A little proposal
by Loki God of Evil
Summary: Asking a certain someone to be his future wife cant be that hard surely? After all, he only needs to seek permission from Kai, his hotheaded brother. A prequel to 'A whole other realm.' Slight suggestive themes. This is what happens in the run up to finding the cube, the one that alters their individual fates.
1. Chapter 1

Jay looked out of the window from his shared sleeping quarters. He stared at the grey rainy sky with a sigh and distinct butterflies in his stomach. He held firmly onto a little black box, nestled in his palm, making his hand clammy. He had been holding that same box for the past few hours wondering what he was meant to do with it or more specifically how to get the girl of his dreams to accept him for who he was.

He sat back on his bed feeling deflated, he opened the box and peered inside at the beautiful golden engagement ring and the single solitaire diamond that stood proudly in the centre. He had saved up for this ring by working night shifts and various other part time jobs as well as keeping up with his ninja duties. God knows how but he had managed it and all his hard work and fruitful endeavours had paid off, well almost because she still needed to say yes. The woman of his dreams, the one he loved and the one he would die for, still needed to say...yes.

* * *

When Jay had found out about his parentage and subsequent inheritance, he decided to make a posthumous promise to his biological father Cliff Gordon. He promised that he would not waste his father's money and estate on materialistic items. All his father had mentioned in his will was a simple phrase which cemented Jay's stance on not wasting the money nor selling the family estate.

'If you want it that bad you have to work for it and if you do it right everyone will know your name. Just work until you don't have to introduce yourself anymore.'

A little contentious for some but it had obviously worked for him so Jay adopted it as his own with some adaptations. But a part of him did feel a little guilty at destroying the rather expensive yacht his father had owned and cherished, heck Cliff Gordon loved it that much he even had his own private pier.

He knew that the yacht and the fact that it was in pieces shortly after it was sailed could be largely attributed to the electrical storm they had encountered just before the battle with the sky pirates all those years ago. It was the only expensive item from his father's estate that Jay had destroyed, yet it wasn't done on purpose. Although, the flack he got from admitting the truth wasn't worth the grief and aggravation, especially when he had admitted that he had made a wish...or two.

Since then, he swore he would only use his inheritance if he really needed it, in times of need or perhaps emergency but in all reality it was for his future and the future of any potential children he might have and he was happy with that. So for those reasons, Jay worked himself to the bone, pulling all the hours he could just so he could afford to buy the ring he knew she would love.

But not just that, for he also had to save up enough money to buy a rather luxurious meal at one of the best restaurants in Jamanakai village which was a short dragon's ride away from their current location. The almost exhausted but happy and ambitious blue ninja had done it, he had saved enough and bought the ring outright and he even had over $200 for the meal and any wine or champagne they might order.

Everything was falling into place, all he had to do know was ask Kai. It was the next thing on his list bar popping the question to his soon to be betrothed; Nya.

The blue ninja stretched his legs and stood, he put the ring box in his top drawer and straightened his blue ninja gi. He took one last look in the mirror and wiped at some missed toothpaste before running his fingers through his hair. He had quite a few hours until he was due out on patrol again, the perfect opportunity to ask Kai a serious question.

"Come on Jay you got this, all's you got ta do is ask him for permission to marry his sister. There's nothing to it haa haa." Jay smiled nervously, looking back at the bedside cabinet before leaving the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Luckily for the ninja team there were no real villains save for the odd few criminals that were always causing small time trouble in the suburbs, what with small time petty crime and unnecessary violence that was swiftly dealt with.

Nothing the patrol of doubled up ninja's couldn't handle, today it was Lloyd and Cole or the pair to be reckoned with. Any that came into contact with those two wouldn't fare so well.

When Kai and Jay went out, all that happened was Kai would often come back with a headache. Jay wasn't called 'Zaptrap' or 'motor mouth' for nothing, the blue ninja could technically talk the hind legs off a donkey. He only paused to take a breath or when complete and utter silence was called for, the rest of the time he was issuing pure humour and positivity, laughing at his own jokes.

Sometimes he couldn't even tell his jokes properly as he would laugh so hard before the actual punchline but who was Kai to quell his happiness, unless it was called for. Heck it was a complete contrast for Kai and if he dared to admit it, well, he favoured all the patrols with Jay.

But it was still fun and Kai didn't mind patrolling with Jay, he was actually more fun than Cole, The master of earth was always so serious and too focused for his own good. Zane was so consumed with statistics and would often bring them up at the most inopportune time. Lloyd however he was still a little naïve never knowing what to say. Their patrols could often be as boring as Hell as Lloyd was still learning the basics of leadership and his conversational skills would sometimes lapse into his missed childhood. Kai didn't mind though Lloyd would always be under his wing metaphorically.

* * *

Kai was out on the deck of the Bounty, he was sparring with a training dummy, having just completed the training course in record time beating his previous record as his Sensei looked on.

"Impressive Kai, always striving for perfection isn't a bad thing, but you must know when to accept your own limitations."

"Hai, yes Sensei." Kai bowed to his Sensei and went to grab his bottle of water, looking to his side he noticed his brother in blue approaching with a purposeful grin on his face and a confident stride. The side of Kai's mouth curved up into a smirk, he knew that look, Jay was about to ask him something important no doubt relating to his sister.

'The make or break moment, I could either knock him down a few rungs or I can make him squirm or maybe!' Kai thought but stopped as Jay cleared his throat in front of him.

"Uhm Kai, can I ask you a question please? Actually it's a more uhm, a permission thing."

"Just spit it out Jay, come on bro, you normally don't know when to stop!" Kai chortled to himself making Jay blush a little.

Jay stood up straight and cleared his throat again, "I wanted to ask for your permission." He said more clearly.

"P-permission for wh-what?" Kai coughed on his water, shaking his head in confusion at why Jay would need his permission.

"I want to ask for Nya's hand in marriage and I thought I would a-ask you for her hand. Please!"

Kai's face faltered, his mouth hung open in shock. He was for a few seconds completely lost for words.

….


	2. Chapter 2

The spiky brown haired master of fire paused momentarily. "P-permission for wh-what?" Kai coughed on his water, shaking his head in confusion at why Jay would need his permission. Heck, the blue eyed, loud mouth usually did what he wanted, _most of the time._ So, why would this be any different?

Straightening himself up despite the current sparring session giving them aches. "I uhm," Jay cleared his throat, rubbing his hand through his now sweaty hair. "I want to ask for Nya's hand in marriage and I thought I'd a-ask _you_ for permission."

 _Phew, I did it, I actually asked him..._

" _Please_!" Jay added, hoping that the presence of that word would sway such a huge decision.

Kai's expression faltered, his mouth agape in shock. He was, for a few seconds, completely lost for words. In fact, he couldn't believe that Jay would flat out ask him this sort of question out in the open. This needed privacy and he knew just the place. So, without further thought, Kai grabbed his auburn haired team mate quite harshly from the training deck, yanking him backwards by his gi to the nearest and only bathroom on board the flying ship. Once safely inside the confines of the small shared bathroom, Kai locked the door behind him so he could regard Jay in a whole new light whilst still scrutinising him for any weakness.

He didn't miss the audible gasp of air that Jay emitted, when Kai locked the door. "Say again, you want my permission to ask for Nya's hand in marriage, that about right?"

That was pretty much what he'd said, so he nodded in response. Hugely grateful that he didn't have to repeat word for word. "Y-yeah, spot on."

Only then did he realise how small this washroom was and the fact the both of them were in here made it feel stuffy. "Whoa, haa, it's a little cosy in here." Jay straightened up, keeping his ear to the door to check for nearby footsteps. His breath relaxing a little when he heard complete silence save for his and Kai's own breathing.

An unexpected hand grasped his shoulder and Jay almost jumped out of his skin.

"Sorry about that Jay. Look, it's painfully obvious you haven't asked Nya yet and I can honestly say I'm kinda grateful that you came to me first….Wasn't expecting it to be honest, even though it's been on the cards."

"That noticeable huh?" Jay laughed softly. "I-I just wanted to do it properly."

"Is that so? So no plying me with gifts or anything to sway me. Just right out with it huh?" Kai said with a sly upturned smile at Jay's newfound awkward stance. He was leaning heavily against the sink, the whole unit threatening to break of the wall at any given moment.

"It's just uhm, well it's the right way to do it and I want to prove to you that I can take care of her and…"and.

"Heh, yeah okay I kinda believe you. So Nya huh, you want to marry her, seriously?"

"Y-yes, I do." Jay piped up, face still heavily flushed.

"Heh, you're not marrying me bro."

"That's wasn't what I meant Kai."

"I'm joking dude, anyway how do I know that you can support her now and in the future."

Jay raised his scarred eyebrow, he was perfectly capable of supporting Nya and any children they might have. Heck, Jay now had his own mansion, courtesy of his biological father Cliff Gordon. It stood proudly in its own private estate, that and an exorbitant amount of money which would be sufficient to tide them and their children over. It would even pay for future college and university tuition, if he used it wisely and not frivolously.

But, to prove a point, Jay didn't want to mention that as an obvious reason. Just that if needs be, he _could_ earn money for a living and he _had_ been for the past four months without any of his ninja brothers knowing. "Well, I've been working some part time jobs recently, so I could afford to buy her a ring and a uhm, a meal out but I err uhm well."

"How did you find the time?" Kai queried, with a raised eyebrow, his arms crossed in suspicion. This was the first he'd heard of this 'pulling an all nighter', Jay had kept that well hidden.

"I just did. I did what had to be done."

"Why didn't you just use your father's money, I mean he left you what, millions right?"

True, Jay was loaded, he was still getting used to the idea of being left all this money. He had only found out a few years ago that he was adopted, that was a bombshell too.

Jay nodded in embarrassment because here they were, living on a wooden flying ship, four men bunking in one room. "I, look Kai, I wanted to prove to _you_ that I could do it without dipping into that money. I mean, of course I'll use the money eventually, but I didn't want to waste it on something that I should be saving up for myself."

Jay said the rest internally as he had to work for an additional two months, just to save the equivalent of a full time wage in such a short amount of time. The energetic blue ninja had at one point held two part time jobs. Pizza deliveries one night a week and the odd hush hush job at Borg industries working in the inventing lab twice a week.

"Okay, so if I say you can have her hand in marriage?"

"I'll be forever grateful and…." Jay smiled hopefully.

"Hah, I wasn't finished." Kai smirked.

"Wh-what?"

"You can have her hand in marriage if and only if I get to help you plan the proposal dinner, how's that sound?"

Jay cocked his head to the side in confusion, he really didn't like the idea of Kai meddling in what should be a romantic meal for two and the result of which would be the engagement of boyfriend and girlfriend betrothed to be married. The only lingering thought in Jay's mind was the embarrassing fact that Kai would know what was happening and would want to know full details after the meal, he'd want to know _everything._

It was a daunting prospect to have hanging over him when his nerves would be shot anyway, but seriously, what was the worst that could happen? He was after all Nya's brother and his potential future brother in law.

Kai would probably even take it on himself to outdo himself, undoubtedly making himself the best man and a stand in for the father of the bride. An intimidating prospect for Jay but if it meant he could marry Nya with Kai's blessing, then he would just simply grin and bear it.

"Uhm, do I have a choice?" Jay asked, a nervous smiled played on his face. "Actually scrub that. S-sure you can Kai, but I do kinda have a budget to stick to so uhm nothing over $200 right?"

"$200 wow! Okay not much to go on but hey I'm sure we can think of something. So when is this proposed date, I mean you know we're due to fly to what Zane calls 'grassland wilderness' in a few hours? Ya know the countryside, restaurants are kinda sparse there."

Jay looked slightly taken aback despite his calm appearance, it had taken him a few weeks extra to save the extra $200 for the meal and here was Kai outwardly sneering at the amount like it was a mere drop in the ocean. In total it had taken him a few months to save for the jewelled ring and the meal, the ring had cost the most but it was worth it, he even paid extra for internal engraving.

"Maybe a picnic would be better, cheaper at least and it would be more local to the ship, just in case any trouble crops up." Kai suggested unhelpfully.

Jay shook his head internally, "No not a picnic, we can't guarantee the weather can we especially this time of year?"

 _'Doofus, stop interfering with my well laid out plans, Kai, I'm going to the restaurant because it'll be private and I know you won't be hiding behind the damn trees trying to spy.'_ Jay thought.

"I was hoping to do it a couple of days after we fly, because I know we'll be there for a while whilst we train and uhm I thought it would make a nice surprise…"

"A surprise, of course we can do a surprise engagement dinner. Yeah, I'm so clever I amaze myself." Kai gloated at his idea despite it coming from Jay's lips.

"Yeah anyway as I was saying, I thought it would be different. Ya know because after a while we kinda take our surroundings for granted and I thought a change of scenery would be good for the soul."

"So…" Jay paused. "I was thinking of a restaurant near Jamanakai, the foothills in particular. There's a new place not been opened long but it seems the perfect place. It's not too cheesy and it's quite modern too."

"Sounds like a place Cole would enjoy." Kai cocked his head testing, it was obvious that Jay hadn't thought of that whole barren landscape being Cole's ideal place to wu. "Look, Jay, sure okay I can run with that. So what sorta time are ya thinking, day, night?"

Jay took a deep breath in and sighed, he really wanted an evening meal as they always seemed more romantic. There was always a small band playing delicate music to dine to, the candle lit lighting would be more suited to a cosy evening. Even the menu would be adapted with specific wine's to accompany the rich foods on offer. And of course after a nice rich meal and a glass of champagne maybe a chaste kiss over the table, maybe something else on the way home….Jay's mind wandered and Kai coughed bringing him back into the present.

Jay took one look at Kai who still had his arms crossed. "Lunchtime o-of course, lunchtime would be perfect." He smiled a little as Kai nodded his head in acceptance, the master of fire had no idea of the images flying through Jay's head, all the blue ninja saw were visions of Nya and her heavenly body.

 _'Like I'd even admit what we've been getting up to, I've not got a death wish. It isn't just reserved for the bedroom ya know and I hate to say this but your sister is a minx.'_ Jay smiled again.

He knew could still get a kiss from Nya during the meal, they had after all, been together for a while despite Kai's frequent protests at seeing their public shows of affection. And of course after the whole episode with the sky pirates Nya had never left really left his side, they were smitten with each other…sickeningly so according to Kai.

"So you want to keep it a secret from Nya too, until the day?"

"Yeah, I wanted it to be a complete surprise." Jay replied sarcastically but Kai didn't catch on. He didn't even want Kai to know when he was planning on proposing but he was digging so much he would eventually want to see the menu, seating arrangements, proximity of seats and legs, even the damned ring Jay had chosen.

"Right anything else I should know about?"

"No, uhm I don't think so…"

"Have you booked it yet?" He asked but it came out as more of a bark.

Kai was leaning against the wall in the same stance as before, legs crossed and arms folded tightly in front of his chest. His face was stern and emotionless, looking for any signs of weakness in Jay but the blue ninja seemed hard to read, other than the exceptionally red face the blue ninja seemed to be keeping a poker straight face despite all the questioning.

"Yes I booked it a few months ago, an open booking. The time was to be confirmed actually bec…." Jay squeaked, a very unmanly noise escaped his mouth but he was cut off by his brother.

"So you were gonna do it anyway without asking me?" Kai asked again, insinuating somewhat.

"N-no not at all, just that this new place books up pretty fast because it's kinda popular and uhm new. I didn't want to take any chances because I-I think she's w-worth it."

"Okay good enough reason. So I'll keep it quiet then, distract her that sorta thing but how ya gonna get there?"

"Well dragon at a guess but she'll need to be ready because I don't think they'll hold tables for long."

"Leave it with me Jay, it'll be fine. Now you've me on board hehe what could possibly go wrong eh?" Kai replied and pulled Jay into a one armed hug, giving him a rather awkward noogie in the process.

"H-hey watch the hair Kai, mine actually requires some styling ya know, it doesn't just look like this when I get outta bed. _Unlike yours_." Jay stated and mumbled the last part as he patted his hair down again, running his fingers through some stiffened curls.

Jay followed Kai out of the cramped dark wooden bathroom rolling his eyes at having to divulge so much. He was so glad for some fresh air, the heat was so intense in the small bathroom some of it coming from his own beet red face, most of it coming from Kai who was always hot.

As he walked down the darkened passageway of the ship they called home the floor boards creaked underfoot, it could almost be described as a groan and Jay now felt the same.

He actually didn't feel relief at all, if anything he felt incredibly nervous now. Like he had just received a stern telling off from the headmaster or he'd just been expelled and his parents were about to find out. Either way he wasn't overly happy that Kai knew so damned much about his supposed secret plans to woo Nya.

 _'Crap, now he knows everything, well not quite everything at least he doesn't know what we did last night.'_


	3. Chapter 3

_Even though their sensei was calm and collected he would not let his students become complacent with their training regimes. They would always be required to train together, with each other on a daily basis because evil never slept. What could be seen as a small insignificant moment of weakness could pull on the whole team, the balance would be tipped just because of one._

"So, lunchtime meal! Got that much now onto the transport, will you be doing separate or hybrid?"

"Well I hadn't really thought about it really, why?" Jay asked as he stared at Kai in confusion. "I mean I was gonna summon my elemental dragon or..."

"Just want you to keep your hands to yourself is all."

"Really Kai, we're both adults, you know this right. I mean we've been seeing each other for over six years now."

"What exactly are you trying to say Jay? Are ya trying to say your intentions are not pure."

Rolling his eyes without Kai seeing. "Oh no, I plan to wait until the wedding night of course like any loving fiancé would." Jay replied sarcastically, his kendo mask obscuring his expression as he spoke in his usual high playful intonation.

' _Ahh if only he knew Nya like I do, hehe._ He hid his dirty smile from his future brother in law.

He ducked underneath Kai's strike before following through with his own attack catching Kai's knuckles in the process and earning a hiss from the master of fire.

In pained retaliation, Kai attempted to strike at Jay's covered neck but he had misjudged the blue ninja's reflexes because Jay saw it coming and dodged the blow to gain an opening.

Jay managed to go on the offensive getting a clean shot into Kai's midsection. He stood back again and they both took their attack stances, looking for that chance to strike. So far Jay had got two clean shots in and their Sensei had seen it.

Though how much he was paying attention was dubious. Wu could be staring at nothing in particular yet paying incredible attention to the footwork and positioning of each opponent.. Typically, right at this moment, he was ocassionally, watching as he drank his strained tea, popping the odd dumpling into his mouth using his chopsticks.

Jay took in a deep breath and focused. He was getting too warm in this ensemble, the mask and enclosed helmet was making it hard for adequate air to circulate. He took one glimpse at Kai, he looked the same; red and flustered.

Kai loved the heat though, he was the master of fire. The guy even loved sauna's too, the weirdo.

Again their Sensei signalled them to start and he noted that Jay was staying low as before. This time Kai was ready and he used his heavy wooden katana bringing it down onto Jay's padded shoulder.

Jay looked down, defeated for a few fleeting seconds. Shaking his head at the mistake, Jay, the master of lightning stood again. "Come at me bro," He taunted, smirking through his mask. His electric blue eyes stared into the amber eyes of the fire master.

Katana to katana, Kai got in Jay's face if only to ask him a question he didn't want his other brothers to know. "Just so I've got this right, you don't want them knowing?" His amber eyes looked in Cole's direction before switching to Lloyd.

"N-no come on Kai, seriously. I didn't actually want you knowing really but I had to do it."

' _Just didn't want to tell you as much as I did.'_

"I see much talking, not much training nor exercise." Sensei admonished. "Stay sharp Jay, whatever happens never let your guard down."

"Hei Sensei," Both masters of fire and lightning bowed.

"Haa, like that'll ever happen, no one will get through my lightning fast defences." He whispered to Kai. Both smiling.

"Well I hate to say this Jay." Kai said as he performed a swift manoeuvre Jay wasn't expecting. Kai span around fast and his wooden katana hit the side of Jay's protective helmet sending him spiralling to the floor.

"Oww." Jay whined, ears still ringing.

"There's a time to be fast, there's a time to be slow. You just gotta know when that time is right." He replied and held his hand out for Jay to accept.

The lightning master took it gratefully and hopped back onto his feet as if nothing had happened. "Two for two." Jay said enthusiastically. "But you realise if we keep this up, we'll be fighting till dusk."

"Maybe unless one of us admits defeat and throws the fight in the others favour…" Kai said without even a hint of guilt.

"Really, you wanna cheat in front of Wu, you realise if that happens we'll likely have to start from scratch." Jay replied.

"Not my concern, I could go all night." Kai shrugged.

"I bet you could, care to wager on that?" Jay said with a smirk as he thrust his wooden katana, the weapon making contact on Kai's mid-section again before Jay lifted and altered his hand position causing the katana to strike Kai's covered neck.

"Two shots in one, down by two. Any more wise cracks?" Jay said.

"Actually, you haven't said yes, have ya, I gave you all the information you needed to know and you haven't said if I can or can't."

"Well you can't!" Kai replied childishly, testing Jay for his response.

"Damn, well I'm gonna marry her anyway," Jay smiled, taunting.

Kai merely laughed at his blue brother. "I give you my permission dude, seriously. Besides, you've got this and I'll help as best I can."

"Final round please students, for my tea is going cold. You both seem to be spending more time talking than duelling." Sensei spoke up.

After a few more minutes of duelling both elemental master retired to their own room, Jay having stripped off fast, had ran to the bathroom to shower first, whilst Kai was tasked with putting the weapons and protective clothing away.

* * *

Zane had been with Nya most of the morning and the pair of them had been shopping for maintenance supplies, the control panel only needed a simple upgrade and the jet boosters needed new metal gauze sheets to protect the air intake valves from being clogged up. Luckily only one booster had ever malfunctioned because of that but the Bounty was equipped with several jet boosters which all took the added strain.

Still it was better to be safe than sorry and the trip had then become a requirement, meaning an impromptu trip to the junk yard was chosen for that was the best place to start looking and the most likely place to find what they were looking for.

So the saying goes; _'what's one man's muck is another man's money.'_

Ed and Edna were ecstatic at seeing Nya and Zane, for it had been months since Jay and his brothers had graced his parents door step with their presence. As usual the 'Walkers' were enthused to have had any guests and once they saw who had arrived both talkative 'Walkers' had started yapping and they hadn't stopped all day. Both master of water and ice had even been invited to join Jay's parents for breakfast and lunch but they had both turned down dinner giving their own excuses for having to bow out so graciously.

Ed had helped both ninja in fairly quick time, because everything in his junk yard had a place. Electronics were over here, broken beyond repair diesel engines over there, old defunct petrol engines near the furthest wall. Used tires in the opposite direction and metal chassis were under a secure weighted net to avoid any theft. Basically all the highly flammable things were separated from each other and more importantly they were separate from their own living quarters. Everything else was secured and rightly so, this was the Walkers livelihood, it was their sole trade and their job.

Ed had disappeared into a rickety looking pile of what looked like tangled aeroplane pieces, coming out a few short minutes later with two large control panels; one under each arm. Once he was in front of Zane he effortlessly stripped the panel down, it was apparent to Zane that this was no ordinary panel, this having come from an old aeroplane. Ed quickly removed the dusty old casing and with great care and attention; he extracted the required electrodes and relevant chipsets, placing them happily into Zane's waiting hands.

According to Zane three of the four parts would be compatible, he even gave his usual calculation having brought up the schematics in front of his face.

Soon after Ed had helped Zane he went off to help Nya whilst Zane stayed with Jay's mother figure. Again metal gauze was remarkably easy to find, it was a short five minute walk from one part of the impound to the other side where the large covered stack of metal was found.

Ed had helped Nya find the relevant metal gauze which he had then cut down into smaller pieces that would be safe enough to carry in the canvas bag they had bought with them, the gauze was still big enough to be cut down further if the propulsion engines required it.

"Now you be safe ya hear me, and tell Jay we said hi." Ed said loudly as he waved at Zane and Nya who were on their own elemental dragons about to depart from the Sea of Sand.

"Aww, you tell Jay not to be a stranger and I have some of his clean washing here when he wants to come and see us."

"Well Mrs Walker, I could take that from you, it may save him a trip."

"Zane, I think that is her way of saying that she wants Jay to visit a little more often." Nya said quietly so as only the nindroid could hear.

"Ah, I see, my mistake. My apologies Mrs Walker I will of course tell him."

"Safe journey's Zane and Nya, you all come by again real soon." Both Ed and Edna shouted in unison as the dragon's lifted up higher, soaring into the sky with the strength of each wing propelling them with each flapping motion.


	4. Chapter 4

Zane, aka tinman and Nya had arrived on board, both looking a little worn out.

Though Zane was complete titanium and bore robotic components, he still looked dishevelled. Maybe it was the sand storm they had flown through shortly after take off. He turned to Nya, she was shaking the sand from her hair. "Lucky we took goggles too, right?" She said, looking back at Zane who simply nodded in return.

"It was good logic Nya. I enjoyed this day, despite the sand storm."

"I'm going to freshen up, meet you all back in the control room?" She said, flicking more sand from her short bobbed ebony locks. She bid the tall nindroid a fond farewell and turned her back. And, instead of going into her room to disrobe, she eyed her boyfriend's shared bedroom and made her way there instead.

Nya had knocked on the room she knew Jay to be in. She was certain he was in there, she could hear him singing behind it and there didn't seem to be any signs of her brother around, it sort of made it the ideal opportunity.

*Knock* *knock* "

Hello! Uhm Jay, can I come in?"

"H-hang on a second, I'm uh just not exactly _presentable_ , haa." Jay mumbled but it was no good for Nya had walked in on him as he was drying his hair.

Jay had a towel draped around his shoulders, stopping the droplets of water from trailing down his lithe defined trapezius and oblique muscles marking where that tempting curve fell at the front. He was of course wearing a further fluffy white towel wrapped tightly around his lower waist.

"Did you miss me?" Nya swooned into his ear making him jump in shock at just how quickly she had snuck up on him.

"N-Nya." He regained his composure after almost jumping out of his own skin. "I-I did miss you. You had a good day with Zane?" Jay said whipping around quickly to look her in the eyes. He gently wrapped his arms around her and placed a small kiss on her lips.

"It was okay, got what we needed." She answered, reciprocating the kiss with far more passion.

A fine healthy blush appeared on his cheeks. It was so easy to get caught up in Nya's sweet tokens of affection. "Hope my parents didn't keep ya _too_ long?"

She shrugged loosely. "A few hours at most, they want you to go and visit them soon. Edna mentioned something about some _washing_ she had done for you." Nya smirked and pulled out of his grasp, placing her hands firmly on her hips in a semi disappointed stance.

Jay noticed the mocking reprimand and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Haa, w-well that was when the washing machine here broke down." Jay quickly reasoned and then mentally face palmed at just how lame his excuse sounded even if it was the truth.

* * *

His parents had insisted, well actually his mother had, she had just taken it upon herself to grab his smalls and other items of dirty clothing she had found. She had bundled them into their jalopy before driving off into the sunset honking their musical horn as they left.

All Jay had done in response was cringe as they drove off as loud as ever. Cole and Kai had simply looked at Jay with a smirk, they both shared the same expression and mumbled something under their breath loud enough so Jay could still hear: namely "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

But that whole episode was over two months ago, leaving Jay with a significantly smaller stack of clothes than he had begun with, as well as a multitude of odd socks leading him to believe that the other pile of corresponding socks would be in his room back at the junkyard. But he didn't have time to go back yet, at least not for a few weeks. Meaning simply that his odd's and sods would have to wait because getting Nya to accept his proposal was now more important to him.

"Seriously I-I can do my own washing. I-I don't need my mom around all the time." Jay said but hid his blushing face from Nya as he eyed his old dark wooden bedside cabinet. The drawer top was open and if he could see the box it would only be a matter of time before she would see it.

Jay quickly used his foot and kicked the drawer shut before Nya could even see the black jewellery box that there in there as clear as day between lots of freshly laundered pale blue and white smalls.

"Did ya get what ya needed?"

"Wow Jay, it was like a treasure trove of junk. Your father is _almost_ as organised as Zane is, everything has its own place. We had a bite to eat before we got started and he had found what we both needed before lunchtime." Nya replied closing the gap again pushing Jay onto the bed and climbing on top of him.

"Nya I-I can't do this right now, I'm on patrol tonight with Zane and Kai's in the shower."

"Oh Jay, you worry too much." She said as she placed a kiss on Jay's lips leaning over him, allowing him to grasp her hips firmly.

"How far do you want to take this?" He mumbled breaking the kiss.

"I love you Jay," Nya whispered in response, remaining in position, delivering kisses upon kisses. "So much."

Typically on cue, Jay was jolted from his pleasured senses by an angry irate master of fire who growled at Nya to get off and get out.

"What the Hell are you both doing?" Kai screeched.

"What does it look like Kai?" Jay replied sitting up red faced as Nya climbed off and straightened herself up in front of her brother.

"I'm an adult Kai, we both are. The only one who is acting like a big kid in here is you." She said as she walked off out of the shared room.

"Oh and we are careful Kai, we use protection too." She said as she disappeared from view leaving Kai staring into Jay's wide blue eyes.

"I-I don't wanna know Jay so just shut it. I said you had my permission and you do but the least you could do is refrain from doing what it is you're doing until at least until you marry her."

"Kai? We didn't _do_ anything."

"I mean it Jay, cos all you're doing is rubbing it in my face."

"Fine…" Jay replied and sighed, he knew Kai was beyond his reach for the moment so he stopped talking and just continued to grab at his cleaned clothes.

* * *

He stood quickly and grabbed his clean ninja gi and the relevant netted tank top for underneath, his wrapped vest was next and then he was ready. He left Kai to dress on his own as he duly followed the smell of food cooking. Leaving the master of fire to work it out for himself despite Nya telling him to mind his own business at what they both get up to.

Of course it didn't occur to Nya that Kai wouldn't have seen it if she had just listened to Jay and not pushed the matter further. But no she was just too damned pleased to see him after being in his parents' company for most of the day and the fact he was squeaky clean and smelled like fresh citrus and musk had almost driven her over the top, but all they were doing was kissing and even then Kai had blown his top like the steam kettles of old, his top was well and truly blown and whistling.

* * *

Once all the remaining ninja had returned from patrolling, dinner had been served, Sensei had mentioned that tonight's patrol would be shortened as they were due for a change of scenery and as such both Zane and Jay would be required back at 4am no later.

Jay and Zane had quickly gotten ready after they had eaten. They had secured themselves with adequate weaponry, their own favoured choices as well as the standard katana's, kunai and throwing stars. Zane took his trusty shurikens, where-as Jay took his nunchucks.

Both were armed to the teeth and dazzling with metal with the addition of communication devices in case they needed to be in contact with the Bounty quickly.

A few hours later they had returned back to the Bounty, having seen no trouble nor crime taking place. It would seem that Cole and Lloyd had taken care of the majority of criminals they had come across the night before. All the lowlifes Jay and Zane had come across seemed to cower when they saw the ninja uniform, even though the night time did an excellent job of obscuring the true colours they wore, save for Zane's impossibly white and silver gi.

Miraculously, the duo had encountered zero trouble on what was to be their last night patrolling. It was indeed their last night in Ninjago city because Sensei had advised them mere hours ago that their new destination for the following morning would be a breath of fresh air. They had been told that they were due to converge and train in an area cut off from all civilisation named simply 'Grassland wilderness' for a few weeks at least.

* * *

Once the majority of Ninja were sleeping, Wu enlisted the help of Nya and Zane to program the new coordinates into the ship's navigational system, auto pilot would get them there but just in case of the odd glitch or potential electromagnetic pulse; someone with a modicum of electrical knowledge would need to be awake enough to take urgent action. And, being that Jay had been patrolling for the last five hours and duelling for hours before hand meant he needed to sleep.

When the ninja team had woken, the ship was surrounded by dense green trees, the gentle rusting of leaves could be heard in the distance. Jay stretched wearily and stood up walking over to the window, he smiled happily at the change of surroundings. He loved this time of year, some of the cherry trees were late blossoming yet the Japanese maples still had bright blood leaves holding snug onto their life force. The green hues of the mock cherry trees looked stunning against the dark wood bark and the silver birches looked just as spectacular.

It had only been Jay's birthday a mere month ago but he hadn't really celebrated it with his brothers. Nya had turned the tables and had taken him out for a meal instead, she had bought him some useful gifts as well as some rather dapper cuff links which he was planning to wear again in a day for his surprise proposal.

His first action now they were closer to Jamanakai was to confirm his secret booking to the restaurant to secure the booking for two days from now.

He grabbed his iphone and walked to the bathroom careful to avoid waking his sleeping brothers, namely Kai, Lloyd and Cole.

"Hello, I'd like to confirm my booking for Friday."

 _"Name please!"_

"It's booked under Walker-Gordon, open booking from 11:30 until 8pm." Jay replied and shook his head at how stupid it sounded.

A meal at lunchtime wasn't his idea of romantic at all, for it simply screamed business proposition or contracts and all that hard selling stuff. Then he realised that the majority of people he may see in a few days will be just that, all sales reps, directors and bankers all too loud and obnoxious for their own good.

 _'Urgh God, why did I let him sway my timing choices.'_

"I'm confirming for 11:30 until about 14:00." He replied and leaned heavily against the porcelain sink.

 _"That's fine Mr Walker Gordon, we'll look forward to seeing you on Friday as arranged."_

"Thanks, see you on Friday."

Jay replied and hung up the phone slipping it back into his hoodie before exiting the bathroom and strolling onto the empty deck. Once there he took a deep cleansing breath in, glad to smell something other than city dust, diesel or fast food joints.

 _'One more day, I got this. Just gotta pop that question and then she'll be my fiancé if everything goes to plan haa haa.'_


	5. Chapter 5

"Thanks see you on Friday." Jay replied, quickly disconnecting the call and slipping it back into his hoodie. Unlocking the bathroom door, he checked the coast was clear. Not that he was expecting anyone to be listening in to his private conversations. Wiping the smug grin of his face, Jay walked straight faced out of the small wooden bathroom and down the narrow darkened galley toward the kitchen,where the smell of freshly baked goodness was calling to him.

The smell he was hit with upon his departure from the bathroom had battered Jay's olfactory senses, in a nice way, so much so that his mouth was watering in anticipation of what he would see. He was certain that he could smell sugar in the air as well as the all too familiar scent of cooking batter. The closer he got to finding out who was cooking the more he struggled to stop himself from drooling.

 _'Please don't be Cole, please don't be Cole, please don't be Cole….'_

Fingers crossed behind his back, Jay hoped it wasn't his black haired EMO brother, because Cole's overall cooking skills were shit. Sometimes, his food wasn't even edible and if it was, it would be doubtful that anyone would dare eat it.

But then, the closer Jay got to the breakfast area, the more he knew it couldn't possibly be Cole's cooking; the food smelled too good. Hell, if it was Cole, maybe his technique had improved, and if it had, Jay would be eating his words.

He rounded the corner, breathing a huge sigh of relief when he saw Zane in a chef's apron, a thick blue flame retardant one with thin white stripes.

'No pink frilly apron today?" Jay smirked teasingly, remembering that vision too fondly. Then he mentally slapped himself at his improper greeting. "Sorry Zane, good morning?"

"Ah, good morning Jay, you are well rested?"

In response, Jay shrugged his shoulders. "I guess. It must be the change of air quality." He replied, looking dolefully out of the window.

"Something troubling you brother, I sense unease, verging on uncertainty."

 _How does he do that, is he like, scanning me or something?_

"N-no I-I'm fine." Jay lied. He sure as hell didn't want to tell everyone this secret he was keeping or it'd end up being spread faster than wild fire. He already felt like he'd told Kai way too much as it was.

 _Where is fire-boy anyway?_

* * *

Kai had positively lit up when Jay had mentioned the proposal, once his hair had stopped smouldering anyway. He was almost as excited as Jay it would seem, even if he wasn't showing it with the same emotions. However Jay was now walking on eggshells around the master of fire, especially after last night.

To Jay it had looked like she wanted Kai to flip just so she could berate him for treating her like a child again. But then Kai as usual had over reacted even though all they were doing was kissing, it didn't help that Jay was only clothed in a towel...well two and Nya couldn't keep her hands of him. But it wasn't his fault that Nya was a minx, at least he didn't think it was.

And now because of last night, Jay was purposefully avoiding Nya for fear that he might not be able to control himself in front of her.

So the predicament left him with no choice, he would avoid the both of them for the day. Instead he would keep himself busy with various other things that needed his attention; namely the daily list which was typically pinned to the cork board.

Everyday new tasks, even as menial as shopping for food or clothes, cleaning products personal hygiene and so on. There was always something to do on board a flying ship. And if the day's tasks had been done then the day or part of it could be spent training or resting depending on Sensei Wu's mood.

Jay would look at the task list after his breakfast because he wanted food first, heck even he remembered that no one could work properly on an empty stomach, so eating first and then taking a look at the list afterwards would be the best option. This was all in an effort to keep himself busy until nightfall.

* * *

"Jay, what troubles you brother?" Zane repeated, having not received an adequate reply beforehand.

"Nothing really." He frowned slightly ."Something dark and unsure, but…" Jay stared at the sky, pausing again with the cup nearing his mouth.

Zane looked out of the window seeing nothing but pure blue skies, he could even tell the temperature inside and out and the humidity levels for the day. "Jay?"

He shook his head as if it was a daydream. "I-I can't explain it, just it feels like something pulling…" Jay mumbled, taking a sip.

"Are you hungry perchance? Maybe you have neglected your body?" Zane replied.

"M-maybe you're right Zane, just hungry at a guess." Jay replied. There was so much going on inside his head, Nya, Kai, this ship and their training regime. He stood abruptly, peeling his troubled gaze from the sky before walking out of the room and onto the empty deck of the Destiny's Bounty.

To Zane it looked like he was in his own little world, maybe sleepwalking at a guess. "Are you finished with your drink?"

"I shall take that as a yes, then." Zane grumbled, face neutral, he took the cup and emptied it.

* * *

Once outside Jay took a deep invigorating breath in, he was glad to smell something other than city dust, diesel or fast food joints.

 _Something just feels wrong, out of place, can't describe it other than the fact it aches._

The sun was beating down on him but it only provided him with warmth, not the security he truly wanted at that moment.

 _Am I pushing myself too hard? Maybe I should slow down a bit, I mean I have been holding down the equivalent of three jobs for the past four months on minimal sleep._

He closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath through his nose. All he could smell was food from the kitchen, heather and clover from his immediate surroundings and the comforting smell of damp rain soaked soil, _petrichor_.

 _Come on think positive, she'll say yes of course she will._

Jay smirked to himself and laughed softly, feeling more positive already. His anxieties were hidden for the moment, giving him the confidence boost to see it through; it was after all just another whole day to get through. The blue ninja quickly walked back into the ship feeling rather embarrassed that he hadn't offered to help Zane in preparation but upon sitting on the breakfast bar stool, Zane had reiterated that it was his pleasure to serve breakfast today. Tonight it would possibly be Cole or Kai, either could be dangerous food choices.

Cole favoured concoctions, some were edible contrary to what others had said where-as Kai's food choices left everyone gagging for milk because he simply loved heat and in particular he seemed to love ghost and naga chillies even in his pudding.

Jay was watching from his bar stool as Zane poured pancake batter onto the griddle and waited the required amount of time before flipping each drop scone pancake over. His other metal hand was flipping the freshly grated potatoes into a neat pile of golden hash browns.

"Sorry Zane for earlier. Don't know what came over me. Uhm, was it a fairly straightforward journey?" Jay asked with a yawn.

"It was as was expected." Zane replied without emotion, his robotic voice didn't have any playful intonation at all, not since he had become titanium, unless you included the whole pirate voice.

"We experienced what could be described as mild weather with slight head winds. The added effect lengthened our journey somewhat."

"But we are here now, fresh breath of air as they say." Zane finished.

"Yep they sure do." Jay replied and took in a deep breath of cooked food, licking his lips in anticipation of actually being able to taste some of it as well as having first dibs before Cole could come in.

"Although home cooked food smells better than petrichor any day." Jay said in preference to which smell he was desiring more.

"Actually Jay, some people enjoy the smell of petrichor; Cole particularly, yet he will not tell me why he favours the smell that a rain storm brings to the dry soil."

Jay blushed at Zane's admission of what Cole had partially admitted to him. The master of lightning grabbed the carafe of freshly boiled water and poured it into his blue earthenware mug before adding a tea bag, milk and a sugar cube. Stirring it anti clockwise until the sugar had dissolved enough; he took a sip and placed it down again.

"So plans for today, other than you getting some much needed rest!"

"Our plans have not been decided but we have some minor repairs to make, namely the jet propulsion, the control panel and the tracking proximity alert function. You can do one if you prefer."

"I'll just do them all, if I've got the time, I mean Nya will be helping too right?"

"Hopefully once she wakes. Sensei has stated that he does not want us to stay here for more than two weeks, so the sooner the repairs are done the more time we will have to recuperate from the pollution of the city."

"Ergo we will have more spare time to relax and unwind." Zane added switching the gas rings off before pouring the stack of miniature hot pancakes onto a platter with the crispy bacon, hash browns and waffles.

Jay Jumped up and walked into the kitchen, he quickly opened the fridge and grabbed two cartons of fruit juice and a jug of milk before hollering down the galley.

"Breakfast is served guys, Sensei and uhm Nya."

* * *

Jay had grabbed his breakfast quickly and had literally left the ship to eat it. He found solitude under a rather large expansive willow tree that was situated a short walk from the Bounty. He had found a raised and exposed dry root to sit on with his steaming freshly cooked breakfast. The canopy of the tree gave him a shower curtain of privacy as he ate his hot breakfast in peace.

"Hey Nya….no that'll never work come on Jay think." He mumbled to himself.

"Nya, I guess by now you realise this is a surprise, well it was until I told Kai and then uhm…..not that." Jay groaned and bit into his cream covered waffle trying to think of something to say both at the restaurant and on the way there.

He knew she would ask not just because he was aiming to be secretive but also because he would be dressed to the nines as would she. And Nya would most likely be demanding answers from both Kai and Jay. Which is why he needed solitude, he needed to think.

"Nya, I-I, well I wanted to show you something, two things actually, well maybe three. Uhm Nya do you trust me?" Jay mumbled quietly to himself glad that no one was listening in to his slightly awkward lone conversation.

* * *

After a few hours had passed all the Ninja had been given various tasks by Sensei Wu. No time limit was given because each task would be measured by the amount of effort and care it would take for each ninja. The only time constraints would be dinner time or nightfall whichever came first.

Jay had taken one look at the task list and had chosen his two for the day; he was going to weld some gauze onto each engine to act as an effective filter which would provide some more protection to the highly explosive jets.

But before he could do that, he had to make sure each one was working and for that he had to rely on Zane and his calibration scans. Jay looked like a younger blue version of Santa after he had been down a chimney, his face, arms and hands were blackened and sooted. His gi was ruined, he only hoped that is would wash out.

"Gahh damn those filters, how often are these things changed?" Jay said lying on his back under the final jet engine. He placed his eye protection back on and slowly disconnected the cover coughing and spluttering as a pile of black burnt soot spilled onto his suit.

"Damnit, I hope this stuff washes out."

"Be thankful you are not the white ninja." Zane said "Black would be quite horrendous to remove from white, it would smudge and make grey."

"Haa haa grey ninja *cough*" Jay hacked and cleared his mouth and nose of the offending black substance.

Zane as usual was his typical shiny self, not even a speck of dust had settled on him, he was exceptionally smart to stand where he had.

"Jay what are your plans for tomorrow day? We are planning a team building sparring event. A competition of sorts."

"Is that right?" Jay asked, not paying complete attention. "What sort of time were ya thinking, like afternoon or later?"

"Just before lunch possibly, we can build up an appetite, get our training done and improve on our weaknesses."

"Haa, well I uhm, I'll get back to you on that." Jay replied and got up to pat himself, shaking his clothes free of the soot, clapping his hands and leaving a cloud of grey to hover momentarily, until it floated away on the breeze.

"In the mean-time, I'm having a shower because I look and feel like a freaking chimney sweep, heck I even taste like one." Jay replied, hacking.

"Next time I offer to do this, tell me to wear an oxygen mask or something."

"Oxygen in its purest form is still a gas and a flammable one at that." Zane countered, unhelpfully.

Jay rolled his eyes. "Dude, Zane, you gotta stop taking everything I say as literal, you should know me by now."

* * *

The sun had gone down, leaving the sky covered in a velvety black with diamond sparkle backdrop. Jay was out on the deck of the Bounty with Nya wrapped tightly in his arms. Her back was leaning against his warm chest, her hair swaying gently in the breeze.

Jay had changed yet again into his civvy clothes consisting of a zip up hoodie and torn joggers from the knees down.

They both looked up at the night sky and watched as a shooting star passed across the cosmos.

"Shooting star, Nya…" Jay whispered into her ear before placing a kiss on her neck.

To the blue ninja it felt like she was melting into his arms as he held her closely, he too looked up at the sky to watch the trajectory. What confused Jay the most was the fact that most meteorites flew across the sky, they would inadvertently burn up on entry into the atmosphere and would leave a fiery trail of destruction which could be seen spring from one side to another.

Night time did a good job of hiding the smoky trail, covering it up as if there had never been a rock falling out of the sky. This trail just went from top to bottom like it had been dropped carelessly by a petulant child who had grown bored. The strangest thing happened to the master of lightning, no sooner had he seen the phenomena he made a wish on what looked like a fragment of burning space rock.

 _'I wish I was better than this, more confident, someone strong that they can all look up to.'_ Jay looked at the star in a sense of desperation to prove he was worthy of her and capable of supporting her.

"Wait! what?" Jay mumbled incoherently as he watched it, his eyes trailed the rock until it disappeared completely; it had simply fallen from the sky which in itself was odd. The gravitation pull alone should have slowed the meteorite from descending as quickly as it had but yet it hadn't!

Nya was blissfully unaware having closed her eyes, leaning back into the crook of Jay's neck taking in his scent of lemony citrus freshness combined with a hint of his gentle musk aftershave.

Nya turned round with a sweet smile on her face and placed her lips onto his, her arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders allowing his to fall to her waist where they stayed.

"I don't need a star to make a wish Jay, nor do I need a Djinn. I made my wish Jay, I chose you and I always will."

One thing he had always learned in his younger years was to never verbalise your wishes, he always kept his wishes to himself for fear that if he did mention them they would never come true.

Jay knew from personal experience that magic did in fact exist but it had soured him, well actually Nadakhan the Djinn had done that. But his experience with the granter of wishes had taught him more than one thing other than to never trust a Djinn who held the ninja personally responsible for the fall of Djingajo.

He had learned a very valuable lesson, the fact that magic did exist and was in fact live and well, still thriving and working hand in hand with science. Realm crystals and fate , magic that could turn back time, ghosts and portals. They were all real, which meant that potentially other things would be too.

* * *

 **Thanks for the reviews people, especially Moc, Emmett, Toothless, GKB and anyone else I've missed x**

 **Yeah it is kinda sad for our blue ninja because you know where this story leads.**


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't need a star or a djinn to make a wish Jay, I learnt that the hard way." She said, leaning into him, gaining some heat from their embrace.

"We both did, Nya." It was true, sadly they were the only two out of the entire team to remember the debacle that was the Sky pirates invasion a few years ago. "We learned to never trust a djinn." Jay said as he gently placed his finger under her chin, lifting her gaze up to his own.

"Or a pirate, besides, "She said. "I made my wish, I chose you and I'd do it again and again." She finished, holding onto his warm hands.

A big smile was plastered onto Jay's face. There were no words he could utter that she didn't already know, in fact words weren't needed. He simply pulled her into his arms, her body flush against his as he closed the gap, placing a delicate kiss.

He would have closed his eyes and meted into it, but there was something on his mind. Typically the freaking meteor was invading his thoughts; the nerd inside him wanted so much to know more of it. Plus; he still couldn't get the image out of his head at the way that the thing had simply fallen from the sky. It was so bizarre for it to follow such a pattern, considering most followed the gravitational pull of the planet.

"Maybe we could investigate the meteor tomorrow?" Jay whispered in to her ear as he held her close, her back to the night sky.

"Why? There's nothing _that_ special about burning rocks falling from the sky."

"I don't know, sometimes they herald loads of information, unless the heat destroys it first. Ya know that most meteors, well the small ones they kinda crumble and only the big ones leave a crater."

Nya playfully rolled her eyes.

"Plus, you'd know if a big one hit the ground, it'd feel like a tremor and likely cause some sort of disaster."

He was still talking, she knew that once he got onto a topic he liked, it was difficult to shut him up.

"Nya, uhm did ya know that most meteorites are one of three types? There's stony, stony-iron, or iron and the compositions alone tell us where the meteoroid existed originally ya know, in its parent body."

"No I-I didn't." Nya whispered in response.

"So an iron or stony iron based meteorite would have been close to the core of an asteroid, while a pure stony one would have been closer to the surface, kinda boring really, can't do much with a stone, but iron however…" Jay added and trailed off.

It was why his nickname was _motormouth_ and _zaptrap_. Jay could talk and talk. Sometimes he would tell jokes that no one else would find funny, laughing before the punchline was even delivered. Jay was the jokester, the playful and often shy one.

"You're such a nerd," Nya cooed into his ear feeling him warm up in her embrace. "And I love you."

"I could talk all night about meteors, inventing in general."

"I know." She said, sarcasm heavy in her voice. "You like to talk, that's one of the things I love about you. You're confident with the subjects you adore."

"Guess so…" Jay shrugged, further shivering in the cold night air as he locked lips with Nya.

"You're nervous about something." Nya broke off the kiss and gently trailed her hand down the side of his face, snapping him out of his trance.

"It's nothing Nya, seriously I'm just cold." He suggested, nibbling her neck.

"Just a _little_ …cold." He mumbled and closed his eyes, his mouth settling on an area near her collar bone which he took the opportunity to suck on, she moaned into his ear.

 _'One more day is all, one more day and we can do this. All I have to do is propose on Friday, no pressure._

Jay removed his mouth from Nya's neck looking at the love bite he had just given her before apologising profusely.

"S-sorry Nya, I know how much Kai hates those." He mumbled apologetically and looked at the warming light coming from the living quarters of the ship they called home. "It's getting cold, you wanna head inside for a hot chocolate?"

"Thanks for the offer but no. I'm going to have a bath and call it a night."

"Aww, why?" Jay whined, bottom lip out.

"I'm worn out from yesterday, plus I've been helping Zane with the control room of the ship." She paused taking a deep refreshing breath. "Gotta say though, at least everything is working as it should and, because of Ed and Edna we now have plenty of spares on board." Nya replied with a yawn.

Jay pulled Nya towards him again as he backtracked towards the warmer lit interior of the Bounty where he could hear cheers and boos coming from Cole, Lloyd and Kai. It was obvious they were still playing on the games console.

He kissed her good night and watched as she walked off. All the while, fighting his own urges at wanting to spend the night with her, then biting his lip because of his earlier agreement with Kai.

"Night Nya, sleep well and see ya tomorrow."

"Good night Jay." She replied and closed her door gently.

He had promised another thing he might not be able to keep, yep that same sarcastic retort that Jay had said yesterday Kai had taken as a serious promise. The master of fire was expecting him to keep to his sarcastic reply even if he had said it in jest. Jay didn't like to think about what Kai might contemplate for punishment if he was caught in such a sordid position with Nya.

 _Even her lips smell like cherry and vanilla, oh god Nya. Focus Jay you promised him._

* * *

The master of lightning walked in to the kitchen and grabbed the cocoa powder and mini marshmallows as well as the tin of squirty cream, giving it a vigorous shake. He heated the milk and water measuring enough for everyone before grabbing enough cups to go around.

"Hey uhm guys, I'm making hot chocolate cos it's gonna be a cold night." Jay stated clearly into the open kitchen bar into the adjacent games room.

"Thank you brother, can I have mine without the marshmallows, they stick to my enamel plated porcelain veneers." Zane replied.

Jay raised an eyebrow but poured the hot liquid into his cup and followed with the squirty cream sprinkling powder on the top.

"All the trimmings on mine, cream, marshmallows and a chocolate flake, oh yeah thanks Jay." Cole mumbled as he grabbed a handful of potato chips shoving them into his mouth quickly, he hastily wiped his hand on his jeans before grasping the controller with both hands again.

"Same here for both of us." Lloyd stated as he nodded at Kai. "Thanks bro, always being a mother hen hahaha." Lloyd teased, but he knew that Jay didn't mind friendly banter, it was to be expected on a daily basis living with so many young men all within such close proximity.

Jay loaded all the cups onto the tray and made his way over to his brothers, placing the tray down carefully on the table behind his brothers. He grabbed his own and sat down on the empty sofa and watched the game unfold. They were all involved in a racing game of sorts and it was the last lap. Kai was in the lead, Cole was in last place having forgotten to use the brakes and careening off at each sharp turn. Lloyd was in third and Zane was fighting for first, slowly gaining on Kai.

Tensions were mounting and voices were getting louder as they neared the finishing line and in typical calculated style and logic Zane saw an opening and took it, Kai had gone wide on the last corner trying to show off by sliding it, this single move allowed Zane to take the inside and the master of ice overtook him with ease. The finish line was crossed by Zane and Kai groaned wanting a rematch, whilst Lloyd and Cole crept across the line in third and fourth place respectively.

The most Kai had said to Jay today was small talk, it was obvious he was still annoyed at finding his sister straddling Jay's hips looking like they were both up to no good, yet all they were doing was kissing. It was like being caught by your parents and going red faced and then the humiliation of having to admit what you did because they were threatening an intervention if you didn't.

It was an awkward and slightly tense atmosphere for the moment and Jay was feeling it more than ever. He was half relying on Kai to make sure that he followed through with his side of the plan, all he had to do was make sure Nya was dressed appropriately without giving away too much information.

Then it would be Jay's turn to take the baton, it was after all his idea, he even had his smart clothes hanging and ready in the wardrobe in a dust proof bag, the ring was still in the box and he would get the flowers delivered to the restaurant.

The blue ninja would just have to bide his time for now and hope to the first spinjitzu master that Nya would say yes to his proposal. Then maybe they could both elope somewhere and marry in secret. At least then Kai wouldn't be able to interfere any more, maybe he would back off a little because the whole big brother thing was becoming tiresome now.

He finally plucked up the courage to talk amidst his brothers who were grumbling about losing the third race to Zane. "What's the plan for tomorrow guys?" Jay said with a yawn. The hot chocolate doing its job too quickly.

"Training at a guess, think we might be sent out on a mission ya never know." Lloyd suggested sounding hopeful.

"Or we might get a day off and ya know be allowed some time to get our bearings, look around this place. Ya know the control room shows a good birds eye map of this area and there's a large lake nearby. We could go and scope it out tomorrow!" Kai suggested smirking.

All eyes turned to him in interest as he described more about what he had seen, the lake sounded perfect, it had a waterfall, a few lagoon style caverns and the whole thing was completely obscured by trees.

"Okay we know what we're doing tomorrow then, uhm out of curiosity Kai how far away?" Jay asked timidly, he stretched his arms and stifled another yawn hoping it would be in the direction of where the meteor had fallen.

"A couple of miles at a guess, sorry I didn't hang around to get full details but it's not far from here."

"I'm off to bed then…" Cole grumbled and got up glugging his still hot drink down, not wanting to waste a drop, a loud belch ensued.

"Good night guys see ya bright and early tomorrow." Kai hollered and apologised at his own loudness not realising the late hour.

Lloyd got up and walked out of the room with Jay, he carried the tray back to the kitchen and washed the pots as Jay went to bed. "I'll sort these out considering you made them, you go to bed Jay." Lloyd smiled.

"Night green machine." Jay yawned again and strolled past Nya's room until he arrived at their shared sleeping quarters.

He removed his clothes and threw on his striped blue and white pyjamas before climbing into his old comfy bed and snuggling up, he was asleep within mere minutes dreaming lucid dreams of places he had never visited before, seeing those same golden eyes.

All that was on his mind was Nya but each time he thought of her he would see Kai in her shadow, even in his dreams he wasn't safe from him. It seemed that Kai was a fire demon in his dreams which wasn't far from the truth if you got on his bad side in real life.

But in real life, it wasn't just Jay who had noticed Kai's recent behaviour, Lloyd had been rolling his eyes every so often at Kai's over protective outbursts. Where-as Jay had somehow become accustomed to it, although it seemed that recently he couldn't get a break from Kai even in his dreams.

It was like Kai was constantly watching over his little sister, never really leaving her side and if he did he would remain close to Jay, at least that way he could keep an eye on one of the couple….a virtual chastity belt for want of a better word!

Cole the master of earth hadn't said much about it, he just rolled his eyes and told Kai to focus, in fact he told everyone to focus. He foolishly told Sensei Wu to focus earlier today and that didn't go down too well. Lloyd had flat out laughed in the master of earth's face and watched as he then spent the entire day doing tasks and then having an elongated training session with Sensei Wu watching from the steps.

* * *

 ** _Earlier that same day_**

Cole was duly reprimanded for his overly harsh leadership skills, although his Sensei was always pleased with Cole's ambition and work ethic, he thought that the young master could still learn some humility and what better way to do that than with some words of wisdom as he sparred with the training course.

"A great leader knows when to step down." Sensei Wu admonished.

"Yes Sensei." Cole replied miserably as he spent more minutes on the training course.

"You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too."

"Yes Sensei." Cole replied yet again, swiping his scythe at the inanimate training mannequin.

"Finally my young student, a great leader needs to love and respect people, and he needs to be comfortable with himself and with the world. He also needs to be able to forgive himself and others. In other words, a leader needs grace and to own up to his own mistakes."

"Yes Sensei." Cole replied and bowed to his Sensei as the old wise man got up to leave with his now empty teapot.

He left the master of earth scowling at him from the side lines of the deck but before he completely disappeared from view the old man stopped and paused, his back was still to Cole as he spoke.

"I understand you don't want to become complacent with your training and I admire that in you, I always have but I feel that sometimes you may be a little _too hard_ on your brothers. Go easy on them from time to time as we never know what is around the corner." He said, stroking his long white beard before walking off.


	7. Chapter 7

Another day closer to Jay's proposal dinner date had approached. The ninja of lightning stood wearily after his restful sleep stretching to his fullest. He peered out of the small circular porthole window and smiled again at the sun as it began to rise in the distance. The lush green grass was glistening with dew and sparkled as the sun shone through each drop.

He loved this time of year, everything was bright and colourful, spring was turning into summer and today was looking to be a good day. Sensei hadn't given them anymore tasks for the main improvements that had been required had all been done the day prior leaving them a few days of respite unless anything urgent cropped up.

He looked around and noticed that Kai was already up or maybe he hadn't even been to bed, it didn't even look like the red covers had been disturbed. He listened carefully to the wall nearest to him, he could hear the dulcet tones of Kai, it was evident that he was speaking to his sister.

' _I wonder if it's about me.'_ Jay thought cheekily but gave them some privacy and continued with his morning rituals, not caring in the slightest that Cole and Lloyd were still sleeping and snoring loudly.

Cole had his arm draped over the top of the bunk bed, he was drooling on his pillow obviously dreaming about some sweet treat as usual, groaning every so often. His raven hair was obscuring even more of his face than usual leaving just his mouth and nose visible.

"Cole you really need a head scarf or something to keep that emo hair from your face bro." Jay whispered and fought the urge to get a sharpie marker to make a heart shaped tattoo on Cole's cheek.

He quickly washed up and brushed his teeth, grabbing his casual clothes. He found some khaki cargo pants with plenty of pockets as well as a tight fitting white t-shirt. The whole look was eventually complimented with a lightning inspired backpack that Jay had filled with swim shorts, a first aid kit and a towel.

He took a look in the mirror and smiled before grabbing a small but discreet tool kit as he left the room, slamming the door behind him with a typical smirk and laughing to himself struggling to contain his laughter as he heard Cole cursing loudly; he'd fallen of the bed.

' _Ah well at least he's up now.'_ Jay thought and laughed as he walked away.

"Morning Kai." Jay mumbled as he tucked into his buttered toast.

"Morning, slept better last night?"

"Uh huh, yep. What time are we setting off for this lake?" Jay asked and dropped his back pack to the floor carefully near the entrance to the deck noting Kai's bag was in the same location.

Kai stared at him for a few seconds, "When everyone else is up and breakfasted, I want to set off before lunch that way we can eat on the way and the heat won't be at its highest until at least 1pm, there's nothing worse than being sticky and warm and knowing you still have far to travel."

"What sort of direction is this place in?" Jay asked, hoping to see Kai point to the starboard side which was the exact direction of the meteors descent from last night. But he was pointing in the opposite direction to the bow.

"Oh okay." Jay replied but it came out as more of a groan.

"Everything sorted for tomorrow?" Kai asked without eye contact, his gaze drawn to a book he was reading yet his voice was still clear and sharp.

"Yes of course, just need Nya to show up which I'm guessing _you'll_ be in charge of." Jay replied and took a sip of his tea, watching the back of Kai's head tilt.

"How hard is that gonna be! Sheesh I know Nya and yeah she'll question me but then I've got my own tricks. Don't worry Jay she'll be ready to go on this _dinner date_ at the right time and no sooner." Kai replied adding emphasis onto the words 'dinner date' like it was a funny term to use.

"Just make sure she is, because the restaurant will give our table away otherwise and this would have been a wasted endeavour."

"You worry too much Jay, has anyone ever told you that? What could possibly happen? Honestly bro I know she loves you because she said so this morning so it's highly likely she's gonna say yes and then you'll both be free to make plans and so on." Kai replied and shifted uncomfortably even if his mind was finally beginning to accept the fact that Nya was serious about her relationship with Jay. She had made it that clear this morning when Kai had spoken to her as not just a brother but as a friend who only had her best interests at heart.

Only then did he realise she was capable of making up her own mind. She had shown him just how mature she was now and based on her answers and the fact she remained in control of her temper made Kai realise she was speaking the truth. She loved him plain and simple and Jay loved her too.

Kai had no doubts about the whole proposal now, it was set in stone that the whole dinner date would be a success and she would return back the Bounty with a shining ring on her finger and Jay would be tempered for once, knowing he had finally succeeded in wooing her.

' _Of course she's gonna say yes, honestly Jay what's got you so worried?'_ Kai thought to himself shaking his head at his brother in blue who appeared to getting more nervous the closer the day got. Even his mumbling had returned tenfold, he seemed clumsy with his odd sparring fights making silly mistakes here and there which Kai knew was due to him losing his focus. Finally he was struggling to focus on simple tasks which he would normally excel at mostly inventing and repairing, he had just pushed everything away and ate on his own whenever he could.

* * *

A few hours later all the ninja and the one kunoichi had set off for this hidden treasure otherwise known as this secluded lake that Kai had mentioned last night. It hadn't taken long at all in fact thanks to Zane he had lessened the time further by clearing a path through some vines. The path had led across a downed tree trunk which wasn't rotten enough to crumble so they had used it as a bridge to traverse the small ravine beneath them.

A risky endeavour but Zane connected them all by ropes that he had bought in his backpack. He left the ropes and wrapped them around the downed tree trunk leaving a marker on the floor before programming the exact coordinates into his memory banks.

Finally once the ninja had found the lake, they had duly stripped from their restrictive garments and placed their towels onto the nearest rocks avoiding the floors or trees in case of 'mini beasts' as Jay sometimes called them; insects to everyone else.

Nya had led Jay away from the crowd and the two of them were still in the throes of passion in what appeared to be a cavern of sorts. Kai, Cole and Lloyd were playing water Frisbee enjoying themselves too much to notice. Zane was just relaxing and enjoying the place and the serenity of the green leaves which provided a canopy sufficient enough to create a glistening sunlight appearance on the surface of the water.

The water however was cold not quite body temperature but it was adequate if the physical body kept moving. It was similar to a literal swimming pool, always below body temperature for fear of pushing yourself too far in heated water would result in overheating.

He switched off his hearing function to Jay and Nya, he could hear what they were doing so he swam closer to Kai and Lloyd, catching the Frisbee as it flew over his head. The closer he got the less he could hear anything because the sound of the waterfall blocked out everything else, which explained why Kai couldn't hear what his sister was doing.

"Hey good catch Zane, you finally wanna join us ya know make it a fair game." Cole boomed but it came out as a distorted whisper.

"Yes of course a fair fight, whose team though?" Zane replied loudly but realised his voice was too quiet.

Cole pointed to himself and Zane quickly swam to him, noting the water was incredibly deep. The only lifeforms in this lake were freshwater trout, catfish and the odd eel here and there, so dinner would be sorted easily if Zane could fashion himself a spear of sorts to catch some with.

* * *

A few hours had passed and the ninja had eaten their lunch both Jay and Nya had a healthy pink glow on their faces as they tucked into their respective lunches whilst Kai and Cole lay down to recuperate after their lengthy games of Frisbee and water polo.

Lloyd was busy etching their names into the largest tree bark he could find whilst Zane was making a sharp but thin spear suitable for harpooning and skewering a small fish or multiple fish. The master of ice stripped of the toughened cellulose membrane from the long thin flexible stick before whittling the tip down to a sharp dangerous point.

He got up and walked back into the water with his handful of pale stripped sticks.

"What ya doing Zane?" Cole asked as he lifted his head shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.

"Getting dinner ready of course." Zane replied with a smile. "This lake is teaming with freshwater fish and even if we do not eat fish tonight we can take them back to the Bounty and eat them tomorrow. This is as fresh as it comes Cole and as far as I can tell the water quality here is exceptional, no pollutants either so the meat should be edible." Zane finished and looked back at Lloyd who had seemingly finished with his destruction of a perfectly healthy tree bark.

"Can I come help?" Lloyd asked.

"Sure, but it is not as easy as you think. I guess it is similar to being a ninja for patience is called for as is speed and determination." Zane replied and passed Lloyd two of his five handmade spears.

"Just follow my lead Lloyd and watch carefully." Zane said as he dived into the crystal clear depths of the lake.

It was only tainted green the deeper they got, even the rocks where the water lapped up at them were covered in a soft covering of seaweed that resembled a the sort of Halloween hair you would expect to find attached to a witches hat. Lloyd touched it gently and followed Zane back in to the cold water again excited to be learning a valuable skill. Not that being a ninja leader wasn't valuable, it was extremely valuable but he also needed to learn basic survival skills too and what better way than to watch a master of all trades teach him how to spear fish.

With an excited grin, Lloyd followed and dived under the depths to watch as Zane skewered his first fish with expert precision.

Zane was quite skilled at spear fishing as Lloyd had found out, although he wasn't that bad himself as he too had been successful after a few failed attempts. It took determination as Zane had mentioned as well as a good lung capacity to just watch and wait as the fish came swimming back.

For such timid creatures of the water the inquisitive aquatic life forms would always return back to their original position. It was almost like they had forgotten that mere moments ago they were fighting for their lives amidst the slightly blood tinged water from their fallen fishy comrades.

When they both came up for breath, Lloyd looked like a blonde drowned rat whilst Zane's metal hair still stayed put, looking shinier than ever.

"Sheesh it's like they have the mind of a goldfish, haa." Lloyd laughed and skewered his first.

"Actually some fish can remember things for months Lloyd, it was a theory that has now being proven to be wrong. Although do not ask me how they found that out, personally I like to think they only have a memory of five seconds which would explain why they are so easy to….catch." Zane replied and caught another which was quickly removed by a shiny black thing that coiled around his lower leg.

"Damn the one that got away huh?" Lloyd smirked at Zane who looked annoyed with the black eel.


	8. Chapter 8

Zane had amassed at least ten trout on his one spear and the other had caught two catfish, Lloyd was learning fast and had caught three catfish which seemed larger and easier to aim at, he quickly swam to the surface again and raised his spear in the air triumphantly, at the same time gasping for oxygen.

"Yeah! Hey guys how does a fish dinner sound?" Lloyd hollered, somewhat out of breath. He still swam eagerly with his hunter gatherer skills on show and for full impact at having learnt something as quickly as he had.

He carried his now heavy feeling spear in both hands before laying it down carefully on a flat rock so that Cole and Kai could catch a glimpse of his personal endeavour.

"Hey, way to go Lloyd, you got some skill there." Cole replied with a smile. "Wish my dad was interested in that sort of thing though. All he wanted to do was dance, and perform. Honestly every other weeknight after school was recitals and performances, meet ups with his dance troupe…urgh."

"I hear ya Cole, I was stuck at Darkleys remember! We just got taught how to be evil which was kind of stupid, considering it didn't help me in the slightest. Hey aren't schools supposed to teach you valuable life lessons and then parents teach you everything else?"

"No, that's the wrong way around." Kai replied with a shake of his head.

"School teach you everything else, math, science, languages and so on. Parents are supposed to teach us everything in between. My dad was teaching me how to be a blacksmith and how to forge metal into good strong weapons and armour and I loved it. I only went fishing the once because he was always so busy running the four weapons with our mum." Kai replied looking at Nya who had fallen asleep in Jay's embrace.

"Yeah well I didn't get to learn all that much at Darkleys, can't understand why my mum let me stay there to be honest. We were taught how to deceive, steal, perform hostile takeovers, annihilate and sabotage. Gahh I wish we'd been taught basic skills like fishing and cooking and stuff like that, or even being given a hobby that didn't involve pretend torture role playing games." Lloyd sighed and released his pent up frustration, he grabbed his towel and roughly dried his platinum blonde locks until he looked more like a surfer dude.

"Let it all go Lloyd, it's not good to hold onto that." Kai soothed as he gave a sympathetic pat to Lloyd's damp skin.

"Look at it this way, now you've got four extra brothers who can all teach you something different. We've all had different upbringings, some sheltered and some forced but all different and mostly all positive."

"I mean take Jay for example, he was raised in a junkyard right? So his childhood was sheltered because he was too far from the nearest school yet twice a week he had hobbies which included roller derby and swimming. He's damned good at both which I kinda found out on Chen's island. But anyway he's also a great cook, brilliant inventor, always joking and uhm…." Kai paused and realised how much he was gushing about his future brother in law. He was grateful in the knowledge that Jay had fallen asleep because he would likely blush at Jay's reaction. He looked up again and caught Lloyd's solemn face and then the sun slowly lowering in the distance.

* * *

"Anyway where was I, yeah uhm Cole. He's a good dancer even if he denies it, he used to go out with his teenage friends when he was younger in an act of rebellion and he'd go to youth clubs and so on, he played sports quite a few different ones and he's ace at rock climbing and abseiling. So uhm that's probably why he can't cook, he never bothered with home economics at school that was the first subject he dropped."

Kai quickly scooped up an armful of dried broken sticks and logs before placing them neatly in a pile, the other stronger sticks he used either side of the pile were driven into the ground with some force leaving a useful hook like shape at the top of both upright sticks. He lit the sticks and twigs with his own element of fire and stood back a little poking at the fire from more of a distance.

"Zane well, he was created by a mastermind, a genius. He knows everything pretty much and if you wanted to learn anything just spend some more time with him." Kai replied.

"Of course you already know about me so there ya go. I mean I can't even begin to imagine what life was like in a boarding school because we went to the local village school and it was quiet, everyone knew everyone. We got to come home at the end of every day do our homework that sort of thing ya know."

"Well Darkley's was just strange, we still had the same lessons as before otherwise the local school board would close them down but we were expected to take additional lessons."

"There weren't that many of us that boarded either, just me and a handful of other boys namely Brad and Gene and a few other trouble makers. Heh I even got jealous when the others got to go home at Christmas and Easter when I was just stuck there year in and year out." Lloyd sighed again and looked down.

"Lloyd don't be so down, look how far you've come. Remember, you have completely changed from that young boy who would run off and cause trouble ya know letting all those serpentine out!" Kai smirked raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah sorry about the whole serpentine wars thing hehe, still you're right though I mean, I did learn thanks to all you guys and my uncle. To be fair I couldn't have done it without his wisdom and your patience." Lloyd admitted and smiled as he looked up to meet Kai's concerned gaze.

"Lloyd you put all that past behind you when you became a ninja, just remember that kiddo because you're so much better than you were. And for what it's worth, I know our past kinda defines us but don't let yours consume you Lloyd."

"I won't Kai, not if you guys are always gonna be around."

"I know what a traumatic childhood can do to anyone which is why I tried my hardest to protect Nya, we both found out what had happened even if we didn't see it first-hand, I was told about it. Nya was inconsolable for months afterwards, she was so young." Kai bit his lip and continued to gut the next fish with more gusto.

"Anyway I had to give up school early so I never got to leave with any qualifications, just had a business to run with the most basic of skills, but our little shop survived despite the dire situation we'd been left with, yeah they didn't leave us with nothing. Our parents were smart they had life savings of course but ya know most of that got swallowed up with paying off the mortgage and buying the materials for the business to thrive and continue."

"We lived within our means just me and her." Kai said pointing to his sleeping sister who was curling into Jay's arms. "At least until Wu came along."

"I guess we all have a different story to tell right! Mine was sped along by the hands of time and that ' _yesterdays tea'_ so I guess I'll never know what my younger formative years would have been like. I kinda lost five years in the space of five minutes because of the grundle and my father, when he was in his whole _'take over Ninjago'_ phase." Lloyd replied in a deeper voice to mock his father as Lord Garmadon.

"Right again Lloyd. Hmm, we need to round everyone up, we can't stay here for too much longer because I don't fancy falling into that ravine on the way back and I doubt that anyone thought to bring glow sticks with em." Kai mumbled but hid his nerves at the thought of crossing the tree trunk in near pitch black darkness as one by one a domino effect would ensue and they'd all fall to their deaths.

"No I don't think they did hehe, well actually you never know. I mean Jay bought a tool kit and first aid pack, Zane bought rope, folding knife and god knows what else." Lloyd stated as he looked at the bulging backpack Zane had brought with him.

"Always handy ya see, both of them forward thinking too, just in case of emergencies." Cole piped up. "I've trained them well hehe."

"Well better to be safe than sorry, all eventualities and all that." Lloyd stood and called out to Zane across the water.

"Hey wake up guys! Err ZANE I think you've caught enough now." Lloyd hollered loudly, his voice carrying across the water waking up Jay and Nya in the process.

"I reckon the sun will be going down in a couple of hours so we need to wrap this up." Kai shouted and lifted up the third catfish before plunging his own blade into its underbelly.

Lloyd retched and turned his head away as Kai expertly removed the giblets from each fish before ramming the spear back into the now gutted fish, he carefully placed the spear over the warming flame and rotated it gently as the three fish began to sizzle.

Zane came out of the water grinning from ear to ear with his three remaining spears all covered in a variety of freshwater fish and the horrid looking slimy eel.

"Well it looks like we'll be eating fish for a while, hope it's not Cole's turn to cook tomorrow otherwise we'll be eating that one." Kai said pointing to the eel as it flopped around on the wooden spear.

"Hey no fair, that's a bit below the belt." Cole replied but it came out as a whine.

"Just telling it like it is hehe, sorry Cole I'm joking!"

"Yeah which part?" Cole asked rhetorically, he stood up and grabbed his towel folding it carefully so it would fit in his small messenger bag.

"Cole, so serious all the time...it's like the world is gonna end or one of will be snatched by aliens." Kai teased.

"Well Kai, 'Mr run off before thinking' something is always on the horizon, that's why I'm so focused because I wanna be ready for it." Cole said in response and looked down at Jay who was turning his nose up for some odd reason. He followed Jay's eyes until his own settled on to Zane and what he had caught.

"Urgh why did you catch an eel they're kinda gross?" Jay whined and looked away in disgust but at the same time he looked excitedly at the fish over the fire, the scales beginning to flake off revealing the cooking meat underneath.

"Hey uhm, I bought some seasoning too ya know just in case." Jay said timidly, passing over a small sealed bag with salt and herbs in.

"Ya never know when you might need to season your food." He replied as he was aware that most of his brothers were looking at him.

"What? Are you telling me you've never done it, never bought it with you and just put up with the stuff you caught at scout camp….no just me then heheh I can live with that."

"You still manage to surprise me Jay." Kai stated and took the bag from him gratefully.

Zane finally answered Jay's question once he had finished drying off, "I caught the eel as it simply got in my way. It was not my intention to kill this fine specimen but it seemed insistent on thwarting my spear fishing plans and the slippery thing managed to get away with two of the smaller trout I had caught." He answered with a flustered tone and cast the eel to the side. The rest of his fish slipped easily into a clear plastic bag for transporting.

* * *

A few hours had passed and the ninja team were gathering their belongings getting ready to make their way back to the Bounty, gathering all and everything. The fire had been put out with a chunk of ice and the fish guts had been discarded into the water as chum to attract the larger fish and eels as well as the few gulls that had joined in when remains of food could be seen.

Zane retrieve some glow sticks from his backpack and handed them to each member for the 'just in case' likelihood that a thunderstorm would hit and darken their journey home. This was met with a few giggles from Lloyd and Kai, a shared earlier conversation coming back to the forefront of their minds.

He really had thought of everything, typical but thoughtful Zane, the guy could always be relied on for all eventualities. Because of Zane the journey back was met with no problems at all, it was easy to navigate back once they had travelled across the ravine as Zane had left markers using UV paint.

He had purposefully stayed back to do this and his team mates were largely unaware but were immensely thankful for it as they had nearly gotten lost on the way back until Zane pointed to the tree trunk with a single number on it, signifying a countdown marker indicating a number one.

Sighs of relief were heard all around when they saw some bright lights up ahead, the clearing of trees and green heavy laden leaf canopies finally provided the comfort they were all longing for after a day of rest and relaxation. The Bounty was in sight in all of its glory, standing there as proud as the day it was made. Their sensei waiting patiently for them as each one made their way back onto the ship they called home.

Each ninja brother and kunoichi respectively bid their sensei a good night and each one retired to their bed desperate for sleep as the day had truly knocked the wind out of their sales. Jay hadn't even managed to kiss Nya goodnight which is something he did every night but he was just too bone tired to do anything even strip off, he fell where he stood and luckily ended up on his bed.

Before he fell asleep he promised he would make it up to Nya, he'd kiss her good night after the proposal and he likely wouldn't stop there because he wanted to spend the night with her too.

' _There's always tomorrow night Nya, I'll make it up to you tomorrow I swear on my life.'_ Jay thought and smiled as he closed his eyes.

* * *

 **Sorry had to re-edit on my iPhon, hope my pc isn't on the way out!**


	9. Chapter 9

All he could see was red for a few minutes, making the remainder of his dreams unsettling until he realised the sun was shining onto him. In their exhaustion yesterday no-one had thought to close the blinds on the bedroom porthole window and typically the warming light was shining directly into his eyes when the cloud had uncovered it.

Jay tentatively opened his eyes, a mild panicked feeling giving him butterflies. He turned his head to the side looking at the small electronic alarm. "Phew, thought for a minute I'd slept in….wait why didn't anyone wake me?" He mumbled, rubbing his blurry eyes.

Now sitting up to avoid the sun that was blaring right into his line of sight. "No sunrise exercise then….score!" Jay smiled, it spread across his freckled face as he stood and stretched.

He took a glimpse at his bed and quickly pulled the covers back on, straightening out the covers so they looked like new. He took a quick glance at Cole's bed and shook his head, it looked like the master of earth had been fighting a rhino in his sleep. Feathers were strewn here and there and the poor pillow was flattened.

"Oh First Spinjizu master, Cole what the heck man, what did you do to your pillow….sheesh." He smirked, he had seen the master of earth punching the crap out of it on a nightly basis before falling asleep but now it was mostly just a sack of wind and only the scantest of downy feathers remained intact.

* * *

Jay got up and washed himself as was his usual routine, brushing his teeth and washing his face. A good comb of his hair, with a little gel to hold it in place considering the flight he would be soon to take, flying on a dragon was sure to make anyone's hair at least a little windswept.

He looked at himself in deep thought and took a mouthful of minty mouthwash, until a thought came to the forefront of his mind….flowers? He spluttered and stared at himself for forgetting.

' _Oh sugar honey iced tea, flowers I need flowers.'_ He thought and quickly spat the blue mouth wash out wiping himself dry, whilst practising his most cheesy yet dazzling smiles in the mirror.

"Whoops one thing I kinda forgot hehe…" He grabbed his wallet and phone from the nightstand and quickly dialled a number, immensely thankful to hear the dial tone and the comforting tone of the phone call being answered promptly.

He jumped back into the shared bathroom and locked the door behind himself, not wanting to be disturbed. Jay cleared his voice, "I'd like to order a hand tied posy for same day delivery….price is no concern, the only stipulation is...that it has to be delivered today and before 1pm."

"What type of flowers sir, colour variety and where are they to be delivered." A female voice queried.

Jay rubbed his jaw and leaned over the sink, staring at everything to get any other flower name to come to his mind. All he could think about was the same old carnations, roses and lilies. "Do you have any blue ones?" Was the only thing he could think of saying.

"The only flowers that are truly blue are very difficult to get hold off and they really are not worth the price because they are too delicate…."

He tucked a strand of auburn hair behind his ear and smiled at himself. "Well what are they then?"

"Poppies…." Came the quick reply.

Jay mused over the suggestion but then remembered that poppies seemed to be wafer thin, kind of pathetic for a posy as they'd be withered before Nya would even get them. "Err no, something a little stronger, yeah no weak flowers, something with more strength and resilience…"

"Okay, how does this sound, although it is more of a pale blue? A posy made with giant blue hydrangeas with the addition lavender sprigs, white sweet pea flowers and roses? We can send you the image." She suggested helpfully, obviously trying to get a good tip from him in return being as money wasn't an issue.

"Nope, I trust you, it sounds perfect to me. Just finish it off with a royal blue ribbon, she loves blue ya know, it's her favourite colour…." Jay said and smiled at the image they had sent anyway. To him it looked perfect, she was sure to love it and he hoped that whatever she wore that the posy would complement her.

"A message on the card sir?" The female asked timidly, because not everyone wanted the additional tiny card that came attached.

' _What the hell, why not, she can keep it as a keepsake from our proposal.'_ He thought and smiled to himself thinking about how she might retrieve it to show their children at a later date, maybe every anniversary or when their children have children of their own.

"To my love, my life, the woman I want to call my wife. Nya please join me and stay by my side." Jay smirked at the cheesiness of it but it was the first thing that came to mind. He hadn't really had enough time to think about the message but the one that had just come from the heart seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

He grabbed his wallet and retrieved his credit card giving the exact address of the restaurant and the time the flowers were to be delivered, he rolled his eyes when he was given the price and did an apologetic look to the ceiling as if to say sorry to his dearly departed father for wasting such an exorbitant amount of money on flowers that would be dead within a week.

The price for same day delivery of a hand tied posy was extortionate and it wasn't even St Valentines day. He still paid though because he knew how far they would have to travel to deliver the flowers, if he hadn't left it so late he might not have had to pay quite so much in carriage and delivery in the first place.

But in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter, it was a small price to pay, metaphorically speaking anyway. He just wanted to make her as happy as she made him on a daily basis.

A gentle rapping on the door disturbed him, "Hey, Jay you finished in there yet bro? Breakfast is ready…." Came the gravelly undertones of Cole.

Jay looked to the locked door at his right, "I'll be out in a second Cole, oh and thanks."

He heard the main bedroom door close gently, now Cole had gone, he needed to get himself ready at least for a small breakfast. There was no point in gorging on breakfast items if he was going to be dining out in four hours.

Grabbing his usual casual clothes the master of lightning quickly dressed and left the sleeping chambers he shared with his brothers, closing the door behind him gently. He strolled into the kitchen and let the smells of coffee and freshly cooked pastries waft into his nose, stimulating his keen olfactory senses, sending them into overdrive.

His course now diverted from sitting down, he wandered hungrily into the kitchen and saw Nya cooking breakfast pastries. Some had been cooled artificially by Zane of course and were now being iced like the professionals you see in the bakeries.

Jay just stood and watched as Zane meticulously applied the exact amount of icing to each one, waiting for his chance to take one when he wasn't looking.

Zane was aware he was being watched so he stopped momentarily. "Take one if you must Jay, they will not last long once Cole and Kai get back in from training." He said with just the smallest hint of an upturned smile.

Jay took that as his cue and quickly swiped one from the cooling rack, the icing was still gooey, just how he liked it. "Morning Nya…" Jay chuckled and brushed past her gently. She smelled like heaven to him, vanilla, raspberry ripple, cherry, spring flowers, all the beautiful things he could think of.

He kissed the back of her neck as he walked past and felt her shiver as his warm lips ghosted her skin, she let out a giggle and Jay smirked. "Thanks for yesterday Nya." He mumbled into her ear.

It was almost as if he could sense her legs buckling, he really did make her feel weak at the knees, but then she too made him feel the same, it was like they were made for each other. Well according to the scribes in the cloud kingdom they were, simply put the whole thing with Cole wasn't actually meant to happen.

It was eventually revealed that the true match machine had been tampered with by none other than the Overlord and General Cryptor. The cruel idea behind it, was to split the ninja team and drive a wedge between them weakening them. And true to form, it had done just that. Lloyd had been captured, Jay and Cole were conflicted with each other and Nya wouldn't choose. The whole thing had put an enormous strain on Jay and Cole's brotherly relationship and it had eventually torn them apart.

But that was in the past now, they had all moved on. In fact, years had passed and all had matured somewhat. Everything and everyone had settled back into the routine of being a ninja, a trained ruthless assassin when needed, a spy, an infiltrator and an experienced warrior to protect Ninjago when the time called for it.

* * *

Jay walked with his iced pastry and his coffee, sitting down at the breakfast bar watching Nya as she expertly wrapped each pastry into the flattened circular shapes, making the perfect cinnamon rolls, before whacking them into the hot oven. She stood back and wiped her brow motioning to Zane to watch them and take them out within ten or so minutes, he nodded in response and watched her leave before continuing with his own tasks.

Zane put the piping bag down, "So I understand you will not be joining us today….?" He asked.

Jay stopped eating and looked up." Yep remember, I've got other plans today, can't get out of them either sorry tinman. But hey you'll still have Cole, Kai and Lloyd, much stronger than I am." He laughed, biting into his roll.

"Well, we could still use your speed and agility Jay, do not be so quick to write off your own elemental abilities…"

"You always seem to be exceptionally fast in reaction speed which is where you exceed, you only lack in strength because you are not focussing fully when you fight."

' _Really ya think because everyone seems to think I'm just a glorified hacker and repair man, like my skills are wasted, but sure I'll play along.'_ Jay thought, biting his tongue at what he actually wanted to say. He did sometimes feel undervalued as a team member but he stayed because this was his family and family stick together through thick and thin, riding out the rough with the smooth.

"Gee thanks Zane, didn't really need a critical analysis on fighting when I'm eating. Gahh you'll give me indigestion…haa haa." Jay teased and laughed, he was never any good at taking praise even it was double edged.

"Look, you all have this covered today, you don't really need the lightning bolt when you have Lloyd and besides, I always get knocked out of the comps first. So like I said enjoy your little tournament as a team of four but I, for one can't contribute to it. Reason being is that I'm busy and I've got plans that I can't divulge." Jay smirked and stood up with his empty plate and cup.

Zane fixed him with a look of confusion, he tilted his head and replied in his usual friendly tone. "Enjoy your time off Jay and good luck with whatever your endeavour may be."

Jay stared at the clock and back at his metal brother who was wearing his striped chefs apron. "Thanks Zane, see ya later." He said and walked off onto the open deck with a visible skip in his step.

* * *

He spent a few minutes on the deck thinking of the best things he could say to Nya because in only a few short hours he would be trying his hardest to propose. Jay looked wistfully up into the never ending blue depths of the sky above, the odd fluffy cumulonimbus cloud hovered in the troposphere giving the sky some definition to the otherwise pure blue stretch of skyline. A solitary airliner flew above the stratosphere, the jet engines searing two fine scars onto the otherwise beautiful ever expanding expanse of blue.

Again he took in his immediate surroundings, he could have almost been at peace, a state of nirvana if he didn't have something else on his mind.

The Bounty was stood against a backdrop of green lush woodland, the greenery of the trees mixed with the fluttering falling petals of white and pink blossom, gave him the feeling like he was staring at a real life oil painting.

Behind him he could hear Cole and Lloyd sparring, fighting with the wooden training swords and both wearing their respective uniform and armour. Jay knew Zane was still in the kitchen taking the pastries from the oven whilst clearing up. Kai, was as yet unavailable, he had gone strangely quiet as had Nya.

He looked down at his phone and his stomach did a proverbial back flip, the butterflies came back in full force. He had been standing on the wooden deck for almost an hour staring in to space and now it was time for him to get ready.

 _ **Today was the day, the day he would be proposing to the woman of his dreams, the woman who made him feel like he could conquer his fears.**_

* * *

"Kai I don't understand, why won't you just tell me why I need to dress up. I mean no one else is dressed smartly, you're still in your gi, so is Lloyd, Cole and Zane…." She replied as she looked at the dress he had given her to wear.

Kai clasped his hands together momentarily and approached her, he held her hands gently within his own. "Nya please, you trust me right?"

She looked into his amber eyes and tilted her head to the side. "Of course I trust you Kai, just wish you'd tell me why I need to wear _this_." She replied and held the new blue gown up for him to see, like it was something he had never set eyes on before.

"I hate secrets Nya, but this was a promise that I can't break, he'd kill me….." Kai muttered and blushed.

Nya took the blue dress with a raised eyebrow, "Fine, but you've got some serious explaining to do later…"

Kai saw a faint smile appear as she took the dress, it was blue that was a pretty big clue, but then it was her favourite colour other than red. She always seemed to wear a red cheongsam and occasionally a kimono dependent on her mood, so the blue one was a welcome surprise.

Nya held the dress against herself, "How did you know what size to get me?"

He looked away and retrieved her original red one that she thought she had lost a few days ago. "Sorry I had to get exact measurements so I kind of _borrowed it_ …" He grinned sheepishly and gave it back with a cheeky giggle. "Hey I took care of it and uhm, it's still in one piece."

Nya stared at the new blue cheongsam and stroked the embroidered fastenings, her fingers grazing the silk patterns and the dragon print down the back. It was mostly blue stiffened silk taffeta with a silver edging to it, finished with a delicate silver organza shrug to cover her arms.

She tried the organza item on first and smiled, but then turned back to her brother again with a look of 'what are you playing at Kai?.'

"You've got good taste Kai, you'll make a great husband one of these days." She said and smiled again twirling. "So, what time have I got to be ready for?"

Kai stood up and tightened his gi ready for his training session on the deck, "11.00 be on the deck and then your transport will be ready." He smirked and left her to get ready without revealing any further details. He could tell she was still slightly confused, she was still staring at the dress when he left her in her room.

Kai left her room, closing the door behind him. The master of fire raised his fist into the air, silently fist pumping, he had managed to get her to dress up without actually telling her why, now all he needed to do was calm Jay down. Because he could almost sense electrical activity coming from the room next door, due to the build-up of static he felt when he walked past their shared bedroom.

"*knock*Knock*, Hey Jay can I come in, you're decent right?" Kai said and opened the door anyway to see Jay pacing around. The master of lightning was already dressed in his smartest clothes.

A smartly tailored suit complete with a royal blue tie and cummerbund, a stark white pressed shirt just like he had worn all those years ago for a meal out which ended up being an impromptu date at the Mega Monster Amusement Park thanks to the serpentine.

But now Jay looked even better than he did all those years ago, he had matured somewhat, yeah he was still lacking in confidence, relying a little too much on humour to calm his nervousness. But he was still Jay, the loveable ninja of lightning who would do anything for his team and the woman he loved.

He could only hope that she would reciprocate that love.

"Kai….I-I'm nervous…" Jay eventually choked out and sat on his bed flustered.

Kai smiled in sympathy, he joined Jay's side and sat on his bed. Something snapped and loosened in his heart, a feeling of brotherly pride was making itself known. Jay looked completely vulnerable at that moment, which to Kai looked like Jay wasn't entirely sure that Nya would say yes.

He wrapped an arm around his younger brother in his smart suit. "Jay, you've got this okay. Just remember what she said all those years ago and what she says to you all the damn time." He smiled keeping a firm arm on his now shaking brother.

"You are the best you and that's all I'll ever need, just be yourself because I love you for who you are not what you are…." Jay mumbled and wiped a tear away.

"There ya go see, now just try to control those emotions Jay, I mean it's great that you're a sensitive soul but you can't start blubbing when you propose so take a deep breath, recompose yourself and get out there." Kai soothed finally before standing up and offering Jay his hand to raise him up of the bed.

Jay of course took it gratefully and stood straightening himself, pulling his suit jacket back into place and straightening his attire. "Thank you Kai, forever grateful to you for this…" He smiled and looked up to Kai's brilliant hazel eyes.

All Kai could see was Jay's bright blue sapphire orbs, "Go and get on the deck and I'll send Nya in a few minutes, oh, and good luck Jay." He whispered as Jay walked past him to the bedroom door.

"Oh before you go, you'll need this…." Kai said and passed Jay the jewellery box that he knew Jay had kept in his top drawer for the past month.

"Thanks again Kai, I'm sure one of these days I'll be able to catch you out haa.." He replied and took the ring box before giving Kai a tight brotherly embrace, one that he had never had before from Jay. It was almost the hug one would expect from an actual family member and a close one at that.

Maybe Kai was slowly coming round to the idea that Jay did indeed look up to him as a brother now more than ever. After all, Jay had respected him enough to ask for his permission to marry Nya. As far as Kai knew even Cole wouldn't think to do that, he'd just propose, take the bull by the horns and just go down on one knee, the hell to everyone else.

"Go on Jay, you got this bro, you have my blessing." Kai smiled and patted him on the back as Jay walked out of the shared bedroom with his head now in the air.

* * *

 **I wrote the end of the chapter listening to Vangelis and Vanessa Mae, (death of Leonidas) for the feels mostly.**

 **Thanks for all the reviews everybody xx**


	10. Chapter 10

The pep talk with the master of fire had revved up the blue ninja so much, that Jay was going to walk out onto the sunny deck with his head held high. No matter how this date would end he would know that she loved him regardless.

And what more than that? Kai had finally accepted him as a brother, an actual brother.

He walked down the dark galley, walking past the shared bathroom, Nya's bedroom whom he could hear singing to herself. He carried on down past the empty kitchenette and tv room.

Looking wistfully in the hallway mirror to check everything was as it should be, Jay smirked at himself. His signature cheesy grin on show for his own benefit, "Woo looking good, hey I scrub up well, haa." His mouth curling up into a smile.

' _Just the one stray hair not bad…'_ He noticed and tucked it back behind his ear, the small black comb placed back in his pocket for later.

He certainly looked dapper; his almost complete physical maturation had given him just the right amount of muscle. He wasn't too heavily set, nor too fragile, the body of an athlete, it could be said.

He was dressed in his standard finery, his form fitting black suit soaked up the small amount of heat that the sun was providing him with. His stark white crisp shirt reflecting the same rays was ironed to within an inch of its life. Finally, he was wearing a burst of his favourite colour, a royal blue bowtie and matching cummerbund to complete the look.

It provided the sharp contrast of his colour scheme acting as a go between to make it easier on the eyes. His black shoes having been polished and stored away previously were now firmly on and ready to walk him away from the ship and into the land of possible future engagement.

The swathe of beauty known as Nya was all he could imagine, dressed in a pure ivory gown that accentuated every petite curve. The same age old rhyme that brides tried to emulate; _something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue_ …. Something hidden for later, her favourite colour blue was for his eyes only.

* * *

He gulped; hot and flustered wasn't a good look. He was standing on the deck trying to avoid the looks of confusion plastered onto most of his brothers' faces.

Kai knew and he didn't say a word. Jay thought he might be relishing in the fact that he felt incredibly awkward and he was to a certain extent for it was supposed to be a secret.

' _Come on think of a plausible excuse for the reason that you're dressed to the nines just before lunch on a Friday.'_

Lloyd quickly stopped sparring to take in the sight before him; he was the first to put thought into his words when he saw the outfit choice Jay was wearing. In truth Lloyd had never seen Jay wear a black suit; a bedazzling blue suit however was part of his previous stage attire and it was never to be mentioned again. He stared for a few seconds longer "Jay! Do you have something to share with us?" He queried with an obvious smirk on his face.

As you would imagine, Jay blushed in response at having all attention on him and Kai smiled. The master of lightning threw him a scowl but didn't verbalise anything. "I'm going on a….I'm taking uhm. I'm going to dinner." He finally stuttered recomposing himself, feeling such scrutiny coming from Lloyd.

He looked away sheepishly, staring to the floor, the lowered deck walls, the dragon head prow, and the main sail. Basically he looked everywhere but at his team who had all simultaneously stopped what they were doing to gawk at him.

The black ninja approached the smartly dressed ninja of lightning, having secured his scythe into the weapons rack. "Hey we're not complaining Jay, just curious is all." Cole spoke up; his gravelly voice was soothing for a change.

Zane the master of ice stopped spinning his shuriken; one was pulled from the target where it had hit dead centre mere seconds before. "Where are you going on your dinner? Is it an open invite?" the nindroid questioned, hoping the answer would be a resounding yes.

"I bet you're loving this aren't you?" Jay grumbled as he looked up to Kai, a blush was still painted on his freckled face.

The ever resilient master of fire remained emotionally stoic; Kai's mouth was closed tighter than a sea hag's stolen trawler net. Afraid that if the net broke everything would spill out, namely the secret both of them had promised to keep.

Kai sat happily on his haunches, a relaxed and lazy position. He was leaning backwards trying to get the full heat of the sun on his face, anything was preferable to spilling the beans and this was giving him a welcome distraction from revealing the truth.

The three remaining ninja looked from Kai to Jay, with a look of perplexed bewilderment at the fact that they knew something was happening or was about to happen. It was a visible stand-off but they didn't know if it was a hostile or friendly situation and where the heck was Nya? And why was Jay dressed so smartly?

* * *

Cole stared at Jay's clothing again, seemingly impressed with how well his younger brother scrubbed up, before casting his brown eyes on to the master of fire. "What is it with you Kai, why aren't you speaking?" Cole finally asked, his impatience for the truth had won.

Kai shifted uncomfortably as the focus was now on him; Jay instantly felt a light relief flood over him. "No reason, just enjoying the silence….while it lasts." He said the last part under his breath, which made Lloyd snicker.

The fire master quickly stared down at his watch aware that his sister was about to make her grand entrance, and that would likely take even longer to explain. Not just that, but Cole and Lloyd and possibly Zane would complement her on her clothes, as they had a tendency to do when a pretty girl dressed up.

He quickly tapped his watch to make Jay aware of the time he was wasting. He needed to get himself ready, to summon his elemental dragon to be ready for her when she emerged. Not standing on the deck trying to explain why he was wearing such smart clothing.

Jay spoke again, his voice calming and precise like he had been given a second wind. "It's not an open invite, I'm going somewhere new and I'm taking someone very special…sensei Wu has okayed it just as long as we're back before 2pm. Which shouldn't be an issue." He mumbled the last part aware that Kai was the sole reason he had to change the time from evening to lunch.

He slowly turned his back on his brothers and summoned his dragon. He took a final look at Kai and remembered the brotherly hug and friendly chat. "Thank you Kai…I owe ya one." He said and jumped on his dragon thankful that his trousers and fitted jacket didn't rip with the exertion. Suits weren't as forgiving as gi's and one wrong move could have ruined a perfectly good day.

' _Nope no stitches busted, come on Jay you can do this.'_

' _Just got to focus and stay calm…oh god….'_ Jay's jaw almost dropped to the floor, his heart rate picking up a notch, his breath hitched.

Nya had walked on to the deck wearing a long dazzling blue and silver cheongsam, her arms swathed in a delicate organza shrug which sculpted her arms perfectly. Her hair was tied to the side with a dainty blue bow and she carried a small but discreet clutch handbag. She quickly passed the bag to her brother as she saw Jay waiting for her.

Putting two and two together, she looked at Kai and then back at Jay before smiling and placing her hands on her hips. "You've both got some explaining to do…"

Once he had remembered to breathe, Jay offered his hand to her. He bent down to kiss it and had to control his bodily urges. She looked absolutely stunning from a distance and the closer she got the more he felt like he was drooling.

He hoisted her up onto his elemental dragon and felt as her hands wound around his slender waist, holding on gently. Kai passed the discreet jewelled clutch and she grasped it with an eyebrow raised. Her front rested against Jay's back and off they soared into the sky.

Nya used some provocation and rubbed closer to Jay the higher he got. "Maybe now you can tell me what you two have planned?" She whispered into his ear biting gently at his ear lobe.

Jay blushed at the proximity, not being able to do a damn thing about it or risk falling out of the sky. "Do you trust me?" He groaned, a throaty growl from deep within spilled from his lips as her own lips continued to assault his neck.

She keened into his ear, "Of course I do….now will you tell me where we are going?"

Jay trying to calm down took a deep breath in, now he had flown high enough to clear the prying eyes of his brothers. He simply said, "I don't need to tell you, I'll show you."

He pulled tight on the reins and Nya squeezed his waist in response.

He smiled, a rose pink tint on his face, her head was resting on his shoulder. "All will be explained, just hold on tight."

* * *

 **Thank you for all the reviews:)**

 **bearhow...he couldn't exactly let her get all dressed up hehe, plus he hasn't told her anything yet.**

 **Master of Cupcakes...you'll likely find out in the next to last chapter**

 **Guest review...better hehe**

 **Leha B...thank you**


	11. Chapter 11

Jay had the biggest smile on his face as he soared above the multitude of green foliage below. The girl he loved held steadfast to his waist, her grip unrelenting. Her cherry breath wafting into his nose occasionally giving him butterflies.

A feeling he couldn't contain for much longer. Jay turned his head to the side and kissed her. A deep meaningful kiss and so full of passion, that his dragon almost faltered underneath them. "Haa uhm s-sorry Nya, got caught up in the moment." Jay blushed and veered to the right towards the Mountains of Impossible height, the rough direction of Jamanakai village, the solitary village built into the mountains.

"Aww Jay the views of Jamanakai are beautiful from up here." Nya sighed at the differing shades of blossom trees, it was still spring in the land of Ninjago. The summer solstice was almost here, only evident from the falling blossoms as they formed their own flowered clouds with the flapping motion from the lightning energy dragon. It soared directly over the low lying trees and the sight behind was just billows of pink and white petals like the twin tunnels from a jet aircraft.

' _Confetti almost…'_ Nya smiled and hugged Jay close. _'A clue perhaps as to why we're both dressed up.'_

"The views are spectacular this time of year, because of all this." He gestured with his free hand, he dared not to look behind because of whom he was carrying.

All Jay could see in front was a large expanse of green trees with the odd blossoming mock cherry, red maple with white blossom or the odd fruit tree with its spindly branches reaching up to the sky like it was trying to grasp the sun. Yes it was certainly a sight to behold.

"It is beautiful, but we're not going to Jamanakai…." Jay smiled, the butterflies in his stomach still there, doing literal somersaults and back flips. He had to fly around the mountain of impossible height to get to the foothills, as was their destination.

She got so close to him she could smell his musk, "Won't you tell me where we are going?" She whined gently.

He chuckled, "Nope sorry Nya but….I hope you'll forgive me for doing this." Jay teased. "Besides patience is a virtue…" He laughed, and she poked him in the ribs.

Within a few minutes they were approaching the foothills, but Nya was still none the wiser, She knew this area was relatively quiet and peaceful. No big impending skyscrapers like Ninjago city, the only humongous thing nearby was the mountain.

Most of the precipice couldn't even be seen as a sheer amount of cloud covered it like Mount Olympus, the top seemed to be completely shrouded in mystery. The mountains of impossible height gazed down on the folly of urban hectic life. The more things were changing in the valleys surrounding the mountains the more Jamanakai village and the adjoining mountain stayed the same.

The village itself was perched on a hilltop, a bastion of civilised style in a world intent on going to Hell.

Jay had always loved Jamanakai, such a complete contrast to the Sea of Sand and the unending dry heat where nothing ever grew save for the odd cactus here and there. Even the critters in the desert were nasty little blighters.

"You Jay Walker-Gordon are a tease and I might just do the same to you too." She fussed at his neck and ruffled his hair slightly.

' _But it's okay because I bought my comb….so all bases covered at least, ring check, wallet check, reservation check, flowers check.'_

He looked to the front, seeing a large new purpose built structure, standing proud, looking like it fit right in with its surroundings. The front pillars had been carved out of the nearby rocks, the signage read 'La Roche' simply meaning 'the rock' which was appropriate considering the surrounding environment of harsh landscape. "Hold on tight Nya we're coming in to land." He warned and felt her tighten her grasp.

Once the dragon had touched down he helped her down first before making his dragon disappear in a blue haze. He offered his hand and led her in to the restaurant, being gallant and opening the door for her to pass through first. "Will you join me for lunch?" He asked timidly hoping she would say 'yes,' not relishing the thought of her saying 'no.'

A flood of relief when she willingly took his hand, Jay led her forwards surprised that his legs were still working, he felt like they would buckle underneath him at any given moment. He stealthily took the small black box and his wallet from his interior pocket and slipped both into his trousers.

Nya looked around herself in amazement as the maître d' took her organza shrug from her gently, followed by Jay's suit jacket.

He wore a simple black suit with an impeccably white shirt and a stylish white tie with the insignia 'L.R' proudly embroidered off centre in a gold hue. "You have a reservation Sir?" The well-spoken man said clearly, his vocal intonation rising.

The restaurant as Jay had been led to believe was frequented by the likes of business men, bankers and stock brokers. They all seemed to have convened on the ground floor, talking in great depth about stocks and shares and the fall and rise of certain large companies, almost as if telling a fairy tale with a sick twist. They were gloating at the profits and losses and laughing at the redundancies their lower class managers would have to make as if the concept of human misery was below them.

Such close proximity made Jay's skin crawl and he rolled his eyes. He was hoping for a quiet table and as far away from these as possible. He looked back at the maître d' who was evidently still waiting for an answer.

Nodding eagerly and smiling in response. "Jay Walker-Gordon, table for two, preferably near the window." He added and pointed upstairs at the otherwise empty balcony.

"As you wish sir, please follow me." He said and scooped up two hard backed menu's and a wine list, walking out of the main seating area.

Jay and Nya followed as the maître d' traversed a walnut spiral staircase that led up to the balcony and tables on the upper deck. No one was up there, all the business men appeared to be downstairs, boasting none too quietly about their most recent investments.

* * *

The maître d' found a table near the large floor to ceiling window and motioned for them to sit. He carefully pulled out Nya's seat and pushed her in, he did the same for Jay and then left them briefly to peruse their menus.

Upon closer inspection, the restaurant on the inside was spectacular, the décor however was all harsh lines. Cream leather bound chairs with contrasting dark walnut wood tables, stretching across a harsh black slate floor. The walls were a simple magnolia and the supporting columns were wooden, showing exquisite fine French woodworking at its finest.

The menu, it seemed, was a majority of seafood, pasta and nouvelle cuisine. Dishes that were so small but incredibly rich in taste. The wine list was certainly extensive too, luckily Jay had a credit card as a back-up, especially once he realised that the cheapest bottle of wine was $50 on its own. The champagne was extortionate.

"What are you planning Jay, why have you bought me here hmm?" She asked her hand reaching across the table, he grasped it and held it gently in his own.

The maître d' quickly returned to take the drinks order, disturbing the cute couple in the process. He had also bought a selection of bottles for them to sample. He asked Jay, as was the done thing. "Your wine choice sir? We have a full and extensive variety. All sourced from the finest vineyards." He poured a few different samples and let Jay taste them individually.

After listening to him drone on about the palates and qualities of each fine wine, and having tested five different varieties of burgundy and blanc, Jay finally chose. "The house white please."

"An _excellent choice_ sir," came the sycophantic response, the kind you would get from someone who was expecting a good tip but likely didn't need it.

"Have you chosen your food? May I suggest the house specials today!" He suggested helpfully and pinpointed both seated guests to the food he was so eloquently describing. He gushed about the food so much it was almost as if he had cooked the food himself or had raised if from the ground and nurtured it.

Nya undeterred, chose her starter, a French onion soup, followed by a main course that was simply known as a Lobster Napoleon with potato tuiles. It was nouvelle cuisine as the dish was petite, even if the menu further explained that it was a 'stacked ensemble of fine tastes culminating in an explosion of flavour.'

Jay chose both of his, opting for something different, he chose lobster bisque soup with a tuna nicoise salad to accompany. His main course was confit duck and he was drooling in anticipation, his chattering and goofiness hid the rumbling sounds his now empty stomach was making.

A good wine choice too, although the maître d' still tried to get Jay to choose another red wine to go with his red meat dish he had ordered but he had refused.

He double checked the wine list happy with the choice and continued to stare at his female companion. She was subconsciously twiddling with her napkin, her hands occasionally fumbling with the embroidered clasps holding the neckline of her dress together. "I'm sorry for keeping this from you Nya, but it was done for the best reasons." He whispered and reached across the table for her hands.

She saw him reaching for her and took his trembling hands into her own. Her dark brown orbs were searching for any other clues as to what he had planned. "Best intentions you mean? Jay, I don't mind really…and I think this is lovely." She swooned feeling his nerves lessen.

He looked at her, he knew she was trying to figure him out. But he wasn't exactly making it hard for her. His body language alone was betraying him in the sickliest way, it should have given all the clues she needed.

He was stumbling with his words one moment and exceptionally quiet the next. To make matters worse his hands were becoming clammy in her gentle hold. "Jay, is there something you want to tell me?" She whispered quietly across the little round table, their knees touching gently.

His eyes were glazed over, as he stared out of the window, knowing that the flowers he had ordered would be soon to make their appearance. His heart rate quickened causing the most inopportune thing to happen. A bout of hiccups took him by surprise and Nya chuckled at him as he blushed. Her hands shooting up to her face to stifle her laughter as Jay let out the unexpected squeak, quickly followed by another.

The waiter had eventually brought him a jug of water, direct from source from the mineral spas at the foothills of the vast mountainous range they were in. Jay took a glass full, eagerly gulping it down.

' _Urgh how can *hic* I propose to her with *hic* hiccups? Simple answer I can't *hic*…urgh just focus Jay everything will be okay.'_

'… _.Just *hic* focus…'_

* * *

Once his diaphragm stopped betraying him, along with his body in general he could try again to woo Nya. She was still laughing at him albeit mocking in a cute but annoying way. Even after the food had come and gone she was still chuckling at him and he too eventually found it funny. Somehow a hysterical laughing fit seemed highly inappropriate in a restaurant of such standing, the clientele were appalled at the outburst and had made a complaint to the management.

Jay was in no uncertain terms, reprimanded for Nya's loud outburst. A warning was issued to say that in no uncertain terms that, "If you cannot control yourself and your companion, I'm afraid I will have to ask you to leave." It was whispered into his ear.

It was like a vein had popped in his temple, his jaw stiffened and his teeth clenched in anger. At that moment all Jay wanted to do was stand up and shove the pompous waiters white serviette down his throat. But he thought better of it, opting to give a basic 10% tip.

' _The audacity and impudence of this arrogant man, what the heck man, I'm trying to woo her and you're just ruining it.'_

But now he wasn't in the right mood to propose, he was annoyed at being spoken to like that, especially by a front of house sycophantic nobody….who was still expecting a large tip but wouldn't be getting one.

The florist, as if by magic, arrived on cue. Her presence brought a welcome distraction to the hideous thick tension in the upstairs room. It seemed that the maître d' was now watching their table like a hawk, rather than watching the front of house as was his sole purpose.

Every other patron was a regular visitor of this exclusive restaurant and as such were now accustomed to the formal etiquette of the venue. Jay and Nya not so much, for them it was just a romantic meal out with fine wine, rich food and snobby service.

* * *

Jay turned his head to the annoying staff member, his head tilted forwards. If his body language could have said anything it would have been along the lines of…'uhm a little privacy wouldn't go amiss.' Mixed in with other choice curse words that would likely get him thrown out.

His confidence returned as soon as the florist hand delivered the flowers to him and got him to sign for them before leaving. "Ahem, can you give us some privacy please!" He said clearly with a hint of exasperation present. The pompous maître d' eventually obliged and stalked off down stairs with a huff.

Jay held her hands in his own, his voice wavering slightly. "Uhm, Nya can I ask you a question?"

She looked into his sapphire blue depths. "You just did…" She smiled and stroked the side of his face.


	12. He said, she said

I blushed heavily, how did I not know that she would counter with that? Sometimes I think that she's too quick. Well she was this time and I was completely bowled over, so much so that my tongue rolled up into my mouth like a titanium sleeping bag.

All of the moisture from my mouth had vanished leaving me unable to form any type of coherency. I felt like a bumbling idiot or a school child who had just been told off for skipping class. Told off in front of the whole school, yeah it was that bad!

I tried to recompose myself, "I-I uhm, Nya that wasn't what I-I meant to say, it was just that I-I uhm." I failed miserably, my cheeks now felt like they were burning.

"Are you always this articulate Jay?" She chuckled, teasingly and stroked my cheek. "You seem nervous, a little warm too, are you ill or coming down with something?" She looked concerned until I shook my head and met her brown eyes.

I appreciated the sentiment behind the sympathy, it spurred me on. "I'm n-not ill, honestly Nya, it's just I wanted to ask you something. Uhm, something important."

She cocked her head slightly and watched as my posture shifted, to allow me to grab the flowers behind me.

I took a firm hold of the flowers and looked at them for those fleeting seconds, raising the hand tied thing slowly and deliberately before passing it to her. The florist had indeed done an amazing job, it was a blue posy as I'd asked for, just the right amount of white and green to break it up with and a little note.

' _Haa well considering how much they cost me I was kinda expecting them to be gilt but no, just pale blue will suffice. I mean it's not every day you spend $300 on a small freaking bunch of flowers that'll be dead before next Friday….gahh I need my head looking at, maybe Zane can help ahh who am I kidding.'_

* * *

Nya's eyes had widened considerably when she saw what her boyfriend was attempting to do with a hint of awkwardness, she could tell he was nervous, it wasn't an easy thing to propose. Even the most seasoned of eligible bachelors had found the whole proposal thing difficult because the wrong answer from their beloved could either break their hearts and of course make or break all their hard work.

And Jay had indeed worked hard, most of it had been in secret. Other than his basic below average wage pizza job he also held a lucrative position at BORG industries, helping the new CEO to create a new self-reliant core. This one, he patented was further used as a backup power grid, a simple creation that used the momentum of water currents to divert into a form of sustainable energy. It was taking the pressure of the grid and over mined fossil fuels all in the name of making a little extra money.

But the whole four months wasn't easy in the slightest, he had hidden it from everyone, well everyone except Kai! The exception to the rule, Kai was the only one who knew all and that was because he was insistent that he knew everything pertaining to Nya and how well Jay would care for her. He was like the extremely over protective father figure who would be tapping his watch at one minute to nine from inside his car. The one who would likely be standing on the porch ready to accept his sister back into the house without so much as a goodnight kiss.

Yeah Kai was the incredibly over protective brother, but for good reason. Jay would never try to stop him, he would always back down to avoid confrontation. After all Kai was all the family Nya had since their parents had died fighting for the greater good. So typically they both stuck to each other, sharing that same unbreakable bond, blood always being thicker than water.

The slate floor was so cold and largely unforgiving, especially when most of his weight was now on one bent knee. Looking around himself, Jay breathed a shaky sigh of relief, the sycophantic maitre d' had gone downstairs. Jay hoped he had gone to pester some other businessman into buying a Chablis, Chateaux Neuf du Jamanakai or Cotes du Ninjago. His eyes inadvertently rolling, that was exactly what the overpaid waiter was doing.

' _Excellent choice sir, you have a fantastic taste a good palate. You, are a true wine connoisseur.'_

Jay knew he had to make his move and fast because the self-titled, overpaid, pompous, overbearing, sycophantic, stuck up maitre d' would be back to make them leave.

' _And all because Nya had a giggling fit, I mean come on…her laugh is like music to my ears, amongst other noises.'_ He smirked again, the blush creeping back.

He delved his hand into his trouser pocket and grasped at the little black box, never feeling so much pressure in all his life as he did right at that moment.

His immediate thought flashed back to his fathers' book, Cliff Gordon's book, the one that the Tiger Widow had later destroyed. He had read some parts in great depth, some of it was a pure cheese fest, no wonder the man lived alone if he wrote that book. No self-respecting woman would marry him after reading that rather one sided heavily sexist piece of literature.

' _When you intend to marry her and make her your wife, you go ahead and propose to her. Your intention is to ask for her hand in marriage….'_

' _ **What you shouldn't say while you propose;**_ _Avoid poetries like the plague especially when you propose. It should be a moment of surprise for her. Poetry spoils it because it can drag on and the proposal becomes arduous. That is unless you are really good with poetry and know how to work magic with your tongue.' Jay smirked._

' _ **Don't use humor, it's funny but not romantic;**_ _You don't want to make this proposal to your future wifean actual joke unless you are already a part of a circus act and clowning around is your main act. For your future wife, its serious business and should be treated as such. You don't need to use jokes to hide your nervousness because being nervous looks a little romantic in itself'_

 _ **Don't be too casual because being too casual isn't romantic either;**_ _Simply put,_ _t_ _he more emotion there is, the more romantic it gets. You don't need to get too emotional but being too casual does not work either...just go for it._

* * *

Now armed with the posy of flowers in one hand and the ring box in the other, he paused before recomposing himself. He cleared his throat and looked back up to her.

"Nya, I brought you here today because…I wanted to ask you a question." Silence ensued, she was holding one hand over her mouth, the other hand holding onto the table for support.

Nya looked like she was going to pass out, she actually looked more nervous than he did.

Jay spoke in a low whispering tone, all seriousness, his voice clear and calm, if only his body was feeling the same. "I love you Nya, f-forgive me for keeping secrets from you but as always I only ever had the best intentions and…. "

He passed her the flowers first and she took them with a shaky grasp and a huge smile painted on her face. She was shocked, he coud tell that much. Her cheeks were doused with a fine blush that could also be attributed to the wine. But at least she was smiling, even if most of that beautiful expression was hidden behind her hand.

"Nya, I-I fell in love with you the day I saw you. You complete me in every possible way, you're the light of my life and I want to share every waking moment with you. Seriously Nya, I will take care of you and I will never make you cry."

Nya's eyes were watering, visible tears had formed and were threatening to spill over like a dam, the flood gates were almost open and fit to burst.

"I-I promise to never leave you alone, I promise to be with you for life."

He fumbled with the box in one hand, popping the lid open with his thumb. He raised it up and toward her face. He could see the gold and diamond sparkling in her eyes.

Nya's eyes had widened so much they could have been classed as saucers, mostly magnified by the huge collection of un-shed tears that were waiting to join the rest that were making a steady trail down her cheeks. "Will you marry me? Nya, will you do me the honour of being my fiancé and my wife?"

She didn't answer, she was too shocked, her breathing had momentarily stopped, her stupefied expression was stuck like a broken dvd. _'Dammit Jay, too much emotion and that's what ya get!'_ He chastised himself mentally and then watched in slow motion as Nya tumbled to the floor. He just wasn't quick enough to catch her body but he threw himself flat enough to stop her from hitting her head.

The flowered posy had been thrown clear across the upper floor and the ring box had snapped shut. Most unfortunately the exertion of stretching into such a rapid change of position in something as stiff as a suit had caused a rip in a rather embarrassing area. A sudden cold breeze was now making itself known as he lay on the floor belly down, with Nya's head in his splayed arms.

His beautifully blue lightning patterned boxers were now clear for all to see. He quickly righted himself and swung his legs around like a lazy break dance, until he was sitting upright, another ripping noise ensued and he swore loudly.

"Nya!...Are you o-okay?" He whispered in concern.

She opened her eyes and nodded sheepishly, " Sorry, I kinda ruined the moment didn't I? I figured that, by your speech you had been planning this for some time and I just ruined it." She slowly readjusted her position from the floor.

Jay shook his head and raised her gently to sitting. "You didn't ruin it, Nya. Not at all." Inwardly he sighed, he didn't want to force an answer from her or even repeat the question because he knew she had heard it the first time.

"Then….let me make it up to you later, just me and you in my room tonight."

Jay rubbed the back of his neck, putting on his best smile. "After dinner then?" He enquired.

Nya nodded, her smile reaching across to Jay who was seated on the floor with her. "After dinner and I'll tell you then." She said closing the gap and placing a heavenly kiss on Jay's lips that certainly lingered far longer than it should.

The maitre d' had soon traversed the stairs because of the loud clattering and subsequent thuds that sounded like bodies dropping. It wasn't far from the truth, he had found them both on the floor, both red faced and staring at each other before staring back at him. He simply raised his brow and lifted his nose so far up that he looked like he was about to topple over backwards. Once Nya had recovered enough they both erupted into a fit of giggles again.

The maitre d' finally snapped and slammed down the bill, never had he felt so belittled by clients that he had ever had to order their removal from the premises…until now.

* * *

Jay smirked and paid the bill and that was all, he left no tip not even a 10%. He didn't care for the stares he got from the waiters or businessmen, he knew what they were staring at just by the additional breeze he could feel. His smart suit trousers were ripped from the back to the front, luckily held up by his belt.

' _But what a rush right? So what if I ripped my pants whilst proposing!…Haa I guess not many guys can say that happened to them right at the crux.'_

"Come on Nya, we've gotta get back, I kinda promised Wu we'd be back before 2pm…" He summoned his elemental dragon and pulled Nya up. His elbows now starting to ache a little after hitting solid slate flooring.

"I promise you Jay, I'll tell you later and I'll make it up to you….." She held her little finger out.

Jay looked at the proffered digit, "You promise you'll give me your answer later. A pinky promise it is then." He twisted his neck and delved his tongue into her mouth, she reciprocated as the dragon reared in to the air, her moans beginning to make him lose all focus again.

He broke the kiss, "Come on lets' get back to the guys, sure they've missed our company for a few hours and I think you need a lower altitude and maybe some more water."

He felt the dragon as it soared, guiding it at a lower altitude where the oxygen was more abundant. Flying back the way they came, noting the sun had now completely been obscured by the angry grey clouds looming overhead. Petrichor was ripe in the air, rainfall was evident to the north but they were flying the opposite direction.

Back over the now wind swept blossomed orchards, the petals following them both, the proposal lamented in his mind. The day was far from over and his stress levels were still as high as they were this morning. The reason being, was that she still hadn't given him the answer, so he was effectively stuck in a petrified stance, forever on bent knee waiting for an answer with the same uncertainty looming over him.

"She squeezed her arms around his waist, feeling his breathing quicken. "It was just the moment….and m-maybe the alcohol too." She hid her blush and nestled her face on Jay's back.

"Home sweet home, take us back to the Bounty Jay, onwards and upwards….Oh and Jay, thank you for this meal, these somewhat battered flowers, the proposal and…. I love you."

She felt a chuckle from him even though she couldn't see his face. "I love you too Nya, and, you're welcome."


	13. The end, or is it

"Kai, you can calm down now. Look they're both back..." Cole grumbled, his gravelly voice mumbling somewhat as he took another bite of his sandwich, motioning to the elemental dragon that had just appeared.

He watched with interest as Kai stood, a smirk hidden behind the doughy snack he had purposefully placed in front of his mouth. The master of fire stood and puffed his chest out as Cole had expected him to do upon Nya's return. "Remember they are a couple, Kai!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know." He mumbled and walked off to greet and congratulate the happy and newly engaged couple, having successfully kept their proposal dinner a secret.

His eyes narrowed as soon as he saw Nya disembarking from Jay's elemental dragon. It was true that both the loved up couple looked somewhat windswept. Jay's hair was sticking up on either side of his face and Nya's hair wasn't much better. If he had given it too much thought, he would have said that they stopped off somewhere and rolled around in the grass because that was what it looked like.

* * *

Kai noted that Nya was shivering possibly due to the lack of sunlight and Jay looked mildly apprehensive. He had lowered his dragon down onto the grass and helped her off before the dragon became a fine mist of blue. Kai was there with a smug grin on his face, eager to hear of the proposal but he noticed that his sister wore no ring on her left hand. Jay looked sullen, his mood seemed sombre and his trousers were ripped. Kai suddenly frowned and thought of something else to say rather than the obligatory 'congratulations.' He had a thought that Nya had quite possibly said 'no,' that in itself would explain the stressed and aggrieved look on Jay's face when Nya wasn't looking.

 _'I'll ask about that in a bit...'_

"Good meal Nya? Take it you guys had _some_ fun then?" He queried, relieved at seeing them both back. He smiled when Nya walked up on the deck with a huge grin on her face. She instantly began to regale him of the events whilst waiting for Jay to join her side.

Once, both smartly dressed ninja and kunoichi had arrived back on the Bounty, they were given the same looks of confusion, notably from Cole and Lloyd who were busy eating their own lunch, it didn't look as appealing as the food _they_ had just consumed.

Lucky for them, it had been Cole's turn to cook the lunch and he had made a fairly easy one of just sandwiches with a nondescript filling of his own design with a large bowl of salad to accompany. Lloyd was slowly and painfully taking a bite of doorstep sliced bread with a large gulp of water to mask the odd sandwich filling.

"What filling did you say this was?" Lloyd asked as he opened the sarnie to peek inside, instantly wishing he hadn't.

"Oh it's like steak tartare, thought that ya know what with those two swanning off for fine dining we could experience it too. Rare beef steak, gherkins, capers and shallots...It's good right?" He mumbled and took a huge bite, groaning into it.

Lloyd hastily swallowed the last morsel, hoping it would stay down for longer than the last meal had. "Yeah, great..." he replied without the same enthusiasm.

* * *

Jay had joined Nya's side and had led her into the galley, arm in arm. "Home sweet home, are you feeling any better?" He asked, feeling genuinely concerned after her earlier fainting episode. Maybe thinking it could have been wine induced but not deducing that it wouldn't be something else entirely. He took on the role of mother hen and directed her through to the inner rooms of the Bounty. Kai was hanging back a little, just watching them both for clues.

"Seriously, I'm fine Jay. Stop worrying." She replied and squeezed his arm. "You surprised me, I admit I was completely stunned by this whole day and the fact you only told Kai." She said as she stood outside her room.

"Well ya know, it took a lot of planning, I uhm had to be extra sneaky, then of course I wanted to do it the right way so I-I had to ask Kai first but then he wanted to know all the details and then he said that if I didn't give them to him, he wouldn't allow me to ask you properly. Then he told me to change the time of the booking and made me promise to keep my word to him and I think I did, well, except for when we went to the lake and then,well ya know but that wasn't my fault haa haa..." He finally got out in one breath with a blushing countenance that radiated pure warmth.

"And that, is why you got lumbered with zaptrap as a nickname..." She teased and kissed his burning cheeks. "Besides, after all that ,even Kai didn't tell me, he just supplied me with a new dress, which as you can imagine I was sceptical about but he's my brother and he gets me things all the time,well he used to! And I didn't really question him, still don't. Jay I love you you know that right?"

He bit his lip and nodded, he couldn't stop himself. He leaned forwards and kissed her, it was a kiss of longing. He wanted to do right by her standards, to please her and to make her happy. His proposal had been rehearsed and practised when he had been working alone. And he was dammed if he was going to say the same thing again tonight. She knew his true feelings, the words in his proposal were strong and meaningful and he meant every word of it.

She closed the door on him but didn't see his face drop to the floor when he turned his back. He stalked back to his room, his bright blue eyes looking sad and emotional. _'That damned stuck up waiter ruined everything, sticking his nose in and being rude. This whole day was a disaster that and my over emotional proposal...gahh what is wrong with me!'_

He walked back to his room in the hopes of finding it empty, just so he could lie on the bed and shout at his pillow. Kai was sitting on his bed when he entered, he cast Jay a look of sympathy and motioned him over.

"Come on tell me everything, what did you guys get up to?" He asked eagerly but with trepidation, he was probing carefully because of Jay's lack of enthusiasm and his general body language.

Jay flopped on the bed and said nothing, his shoulders slumped forwards and he took a deep shuddering sigh as he loosened his shirt buttons.

Kai persisted and scooted closer, "What did she say?" He draped an arm around Jay's shoulder, giving a firm squeeze.

He watched as a tear rolled down Jay's face, he gulped nervously.

Jay sniffed and wiped the tear away in embarrassment before finally speaking "She didn't say...anything." He mumbled and threw his blue tie and cummerbund to the floor, quickly followed by his shirt.

Jay took out the ring box opening it for Kai to see, before putting it securely in his top bedside drawer for later.

The master of fire only glanced at the shiny ring for mere seconds, not really concerned about the token of love but more about the newfound emotional state that the master of lightning was battling with. Kai knew from experience at how sensitive Jay could be, he was easily the most sensitive soul aboard. He had been the same when Nya refused to choose between black and blue or when he saw her hug Cole instead of Jay on the day that Zane sacrificed his white ninja life.

"She is still gonna give you an answer though?" He whispered, it was an uncertain question.

"I-I guess so after dinner maybe! Ahh who am I kidding she could say yes or no and again I'm none the wiser...I hate all this uncertainty, just thought she would say yes, but then what with everything that happened I reckon she'll just laugh ."

"Well,tell me what happened then? at least then I'll know. Jay I meant what I said, I'm here for you, I've got your back." He got up of the bed and allowed Jay to carry on changing into his ninja gi. He span into it easily and discarded his ruined trousers into the nearest trash can.

"We had a great meal, lovely wine, service was pompous but ya know it was fine dining." He sighed again. "We had our food, Nya started laughing because I got hiccups, the management told me off and said in no uncertain terms that I needed to control her behaviour or we'd be asked to leave." He picked up his kunai blades and tucked them into his belt.

"Anyway after all that, I got the flowers for her, gave her a posy of her favourite colour and then got down on one knee, gave her my heartfelt feelings,proposed to her and showed her the ring..."

"And then?" Kai asked with a hint of excited anticipation.

Jay sighed again, "Then she fainted, and I caught her, stopped her from hitting the ground, ripped my trousers in the process and then we got thrown out. The end! No answer, ring still here, the whole day was a failure of gargantuan proportions. Why did I ever think she would say yes?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...Jay calm down, Nya fainted?" Kai shook his head. "Look that doesn't matter okay, you know how she feels about you, she loves you no matter what, the fact that you two have been together now for three years just goes to show it. Don't you remember this talk we had this morning? no matter the outcome you know how she feels about you and I know you feel the same about her."

"Jay, bro...just give her some time,I'm sure she'll tell you later." Kai reassured with the same brotherly hug.

He had walked over to the bedroom door seeing Nya walking past in her gi, he could tell she was looking for Jay. He whispered back into the room, seeing Jay at the mirror wiping his face and recomposing himself. "You think you're up to some sparring yet? Looks like someone may be looking for you." He said with a wink and stood back allowing Jay to scuttle past at breakneck speed.

 _'Lovebirds hehe.'_

* * *

"Had a good time then?" Came a disgruntled gravelly voice, distorted by the wedge of bread he had bitten into.

Jay could see Nya just ahead in her ninja gi, his eyes then adjusted to the plate of food in front of both leaders. "Actually, it was pretty good, the location was spot on. Great venue, you'd love it Cole, just your environment. It was well appointed, tastefully decorated, blah blah blah. It _was_ a lovely sunny day with great views across the Mountains of impossible height."

"Plus..." He said with his nose turned up at the sandwiches. "The food was also delicious, the wine was good but the service was...well, let's just say...I didn't leave a tip! Haa!"

"You don't look like you made it to the restaurant, bro!" Cole raised an eyebrow, his arms folded across his chest.

Making assumptions based on their appearance did nothing for Jay, Nya had already shrugged it off and ignored him, walking through and onto the deck.

* * *

Cole walked up to Jay with a smug grin and ruffled his hair. A few stray cherry blossom petals fell to the floor.

"Whatever! Look, think what you want, I took her for a meal and that was it." Jay skipped the proposal part, chalking it off to an experience he would rather forget unless her answer later, just happened to be 'yes,' in which case he would likely laugh about it for years to come.

He side stepped Cole in the kitchen area and grabbed a glass, filling it with cold water. "Wu said something about training time, although we can't really do all that much on a full stomach, so I'll just be warming up for a bit, see how I feel."

"Either way, I'm glad you two had a good meal out, you looked like you enjoyed it... _I think?"_

Jay nodded and walked away with a smile. He saw Nya sitting under a tree practising with her blades, Jay turned slightly, Lloyd was reading a book on the deck, the cover still hidden. Kai and Zane were mid sparring and Cole had just picked up his scythe to attack a mannequin with.

Jay did a full 360 degree turn and finally spotted his sensei sitting atop the Bounty, drinking his tea, winking at Jay. His face solemn and knowing, he knew that today would possibly be the last for one of his ninja...on this realm.

* * *

 **Ta da... sorry had to re edit as usual.**

 **Thanks everybody for following and reviewing, haa my first completed story...whew. Oh btw this then leads on to 'A Whole Other Realm' where this story carries on with a twist. Yeah I know a shameless plug.**


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